Teachers extend their commitment beyond the classroom

December 14, 2011 — by Sierra Smith

It’s 9 p.m. on a Tuesday. Most of the school’s 1,392 students have gone home, as have most of the school’s 70 teachers.

But in room 408 history teacher Jeff Scott is working with 18 eager members of the mock trial team. They have already been practicing hard for two and a half hours to perfect their performances before their first competition in January.

It’s 9 p.m. on a Tuesday. Most of the school’s 1,392 students have gone home, as have most of the school’s 70 teachers.

But in room 408 history teacher Jeff Scott is working with 18 eager members of the mock trial team. They have already been practicing hard for two and a half hours to perfect their performances before their first competition in January.

Scott is one of many teachers who exceed expectations by getting involved with extracurricular activities on campus. From being a club adviser to coaching sports, teachers express their dedication and love for working with students in many ways.
“I love working with kids, which is why I love coming to work so much,” Scott said. “Our volunteer attorney coaches must feel the same way because they put in countless hours to help our students succeed.”

Scott was asked to join the mock trial staff last year by retired guidance counselor Christy Cali.
Mock trial gives students the opportunity to experience a setting similar to that of a real courtroom and get “real life training” for a possible career in the legal profession, Scott said.

As a political science major in college, Scott took classes on the Constitution, law and society, which gave him some legal knowledge, including courtroom procedures.

This time of year, Scott dedicates about four and a half hours a week to the mock trial team, 10-12 hours during competition season in February, and is purely motivated by his love to help and see students grow as they attain new skills and expand their knowledge.

“I don’t get anything out of it except for a few free dinners, but that doesn’t matter, as being the mock trial coach just gives me another opportunity to work with students outside of regular classes,” Scott said. “I have several former students and it really pleases me seeing them impress me on a weekly basis.”

Speech and debate coach Erick Rector, who teaches English 9, English 12 and Rhetoric, is similarly driven to put in the extra time and effort with his students, as he has done for the past six years.
“I like watching the progression of students as they develop their speaking talents, knowing that it is a relatively unique and powerful tool especially beyond high school,” Rector said.

According to Rector, speech and debate helps students realize their potential and talent for “presenting their ideas in a clear, easily understood and positive way.” Rector said he has made a goal to help kids who lack confidence by bringing them to realize they have great public speaking abilities.
The speech and debate team, like most teams, creates many bonds during practice and competitions. Concerning the speech and debate participants, Rector said, “We’re all a bit nerdy, clearly love to hear ourselves speak and are never wrong about anything.”

Among the several teachers who coach is history teacher Mike Davey, who has coached boys’ varsity basketball for 14 years and is in his fourth year of coaching girls’ varsity basketball.
“Winning through adversity brings life lessons you cannot obtain elsewhere in the regular curriculum,” Davey said. “Working toward a shared goal to try to win league is also an experience in team building that is hard to match in the traditional school model.”

In Davey’s experience, students who participate in sports go on to better post-college jobs and build stronger contacts that they maintain for longer periods compared to those of their non-athlete peers.
Davey, having grown up surrounded by basketball, is more than qualified to do the job. His father coached at Santa Clara University for 30 years, and is known for recruiting current NBA player Steve Nash for the 1992-93 season college season. Davey’s father, Dick Davey, is now the associate head coach at Stanford.

Some teachers and coaches receive stipends for the outside-of-class work they do with students. These stipends range between about $2,000 to just over $4,000 per year. But the stipend is usually small considering the number of hours teachers put in outside of class.

In any case, the extra effort put in my many teachers on campus is essential to the success of many activities and greatly appreciated by the students involved.

“Mr. Rector is really supportive,” junior speech and debate member Sanjna Verma said. “At the end of day, we are really thankful to have someone around who knows the tension in the atmosphere and can sympathize.”

Verma greatly enjoys speech and debate thanks partly to Rector’s coaching efforts. She has participated in speech and debate since her freshmen year and plans on carrying it through her senior year.

Junior Rohan Cotah, a member of mock trial since his freshmen year, feels similarly about his experience and Scott’s contributions.

“It’s been amazing to have someone like Mr. Scott as a teacher coach in Mock Trial because he is an extremely positive influence to the team,” Cotah said. “He does all the background work to make meetings possible and he sticks around for a long time Tuesday nights to make sure things run smoothly.”

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