I was never fond of school. I am a hands-on learner, and I’m more interested in the kind of classes where I can get dirty. High school was a new start because I was going to be able to take more hands-on classes. When sophomore year came, I signed up for as many as possible. During the first week I noticed I had the same teacher for just about all of these classes. He was a late-twenties-looking guy – tall, with a full head of hair and a beard – and he was always happy. That teacher was Mr. Christian.
I thought his small engine class was going to be easy and I would know everything. I was wrong. Mr. Christian taught us about electricity and all the different uncommon parts of the engine, and he gave challenging quizzes and hard projects.
Mr. Christian pushed my limits in every class. He was also my teacher in metals. In this class, Mr. Christian taught me welding, electrical, and small engines. At first I didn’t know how to weld or cut metal properly, but in no time I was great at it.
In the classroom, he is a hands-on kind of guy. Instead of telling me how to do something, he would show me and give a description of what he was doing.
He’s not a typical teacher. He definitely doesn’t give an easy A; instead, Mr. Christian always makes class challenging. He gave us occasional quizzes to make sure we were learning, and if I was doing well he would give me a bigger project. At the end of a semester, my final was to construct something out of metal. Mr. Christian recommended I make my final project tough, so I did. I built a free-standing coat hanger.
In metals fabrication, Mr. Christian made sure the class got good at welding. He had us lay a weld in a flat piece of metal. I must have put down 30 different welds before I got it right, and I wasn’t the only one. It made me feel like I was actually learning something I wanted to.
Mr. Christian’s enthusiasm never ended – and no matter what class it was, whenever he was talking about something, he always knew what he was talking about.
Mr. Christian encouraged me to do better in all five classes over the three years I had with him. He changed my mindset about school and made me enjoy it. I learned about small engines, electrical, welding, lathe and mill work, and automotive – all from the same person. It showed that he put the time in to know all these topics.
Mr. Christian is a truly genuine guy who I wouldn’t expect to be a teacher. He knows a lot more than you would expect, and he is more than willing to share his knowledge with his students.