Known for his witty jokes and relaxed attitude, Mr. O’haire is December’s teacher of the month. His further ability to integrate the required course material and encourage students to participate demonstrates his effectiveness as a teacher. The following interview reveals the insights of this beloved math teacher.

Q: Why did you become a teacher?

A: “I became a teacher because when I was young, I had really good elementary school teachers and I always looked up to them. And, when I got to college, I’ve always loved math … Initially, I was like, ‘Oh I’ll be a business-econ major, it’ll be great.’ Then I took three days of an econ class, dropped it and changed my major to math for high school.

Q: What’s your favorite part about being a teacher? What’s your least favorite part?

A: “My favorite part about being a teacher is probably those rare windows when you actually get to make a difference, because philanthropically, I think teaching is the biggest thing I give back on … That’s one of those things that makes me feel good, like when every now and then you get to help somebody grow. The worst part is all the red tape, bureaucracy, and busy work. The repetitive nature of the system is probably the most irritating.”

Q: What do you think about the new fallout game?

A: “It’s incredible. I love it. I only get to play on Sundays right now because wrestling season just started, so it’s a huge treat for me to be able to sit down for a few hours and go through the Fallout wasteland. It’s been a lot of fun.”

Q: What is your favorite memory from your time at Dougherty? What is the most embarrassing?

A: “My favorite memory is probably winning league in wrestling. That was pretty cool — going from being the joke of the league to being the best was really fun. I don’t know about the most embarrassing, but I’d say it’s more like the sum of all the little embarrassments.”

Q: Describe your fantasy life.

A: “Either have a giant trust fund … or win the Lotto. Just have so much money that I could teach but not really care about what else is going on around me. Like I could teach for fun, wear nice suits to work, and teach two periods a day and just kick it.

Q: What is one piece of advice you would give students/ you wish you knew when you were in high school.

A: “Advice wise I’d say just try and enjoy some of what’s going on. It’s really easy for the size of your perspective to dictate how you see the world, and right now, perspective wise, you see a small slice of what your life’s going to be like, so everything gets magnified and little things get to you. But, just remember that your perspective will open up, and with experience, you learn the magnitude of actual life events is a lot smaller than you think it is. [High school] is not the end all be all of everything that’s going to happen in your life.”