What do you think when you hear “math teacher”? Is it a strict teacher with no remorse? How about one that tries to trick you with every little question? After I had Mr.Starrett for a math teacher, I think of the ultimate Eagles fan, an understandable teacher and that one teacher who would put questions about The Simpson’s on his tests.

When I say a great Eagles fan, he was always rooting for his favorite team. He loved sports; he coached volleyball, and led our school to its first winning season, its first championship win, all while being undefeated. He would always mention volleyball in his questions, most of which involved people spiking the ball in perfect parabolas into the other team’s face.

Compared to other math teachers that seem to be speaking in Greek the whole time, he was a breath of fresh air. He made it easy to understand things like trigonometry, statistics, and geometry. In his class I could understand why X=87xY, but now in geometry class, I can’t figure out how to tell if triangles are similar.

The best part about him was that he loved to joke around. Multiple times he would make test questions about Simpson’s characters, so you would have to study the Simpson’s poster in the back of the class. He would also use the people in the class as examples for problems. Going back to the Parabolas he also asked if someone who got hit by an ice cream truck would get impaled on a fence. I’d like to see if your favorite teacher did that!

I have had some great teachers, but none can stack up to Mr. Starrett. He is smart, funny, and he knows how to have fun. I look back on him with great pleasure. So if you have never had a teacher, who loved sports, showed you how to do things, and could teach you that getting hit by an ice cream truck could end up with you being impaled by a fence, you should really meet him. That’s why I think Mr. Starrett should be the Educator of the Year.