Whether you see Mr. Jack Feger coaching middle school flag football, teaching Math 3E or 5, or in his office in Wheeler Bailey, he is always ready to help students with whatever they need with a smile on his face. Mr. Feger grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, and after high school, he moved to many different places. He went to school in Indiana and has been a teacher in Texas, Nevada, Spain, and now San Diego.
Q: What was your experience teaching in Spain like?
A: I was just there for one year, and I was teaching students at an American school who were from all over. Some kids were from the US, some kids were from various parts of Europe, and a lot were from Spain. It was definitely a very different school, I was teaching middle school there and I just think the culture and the school are a lot different there. For better or for worse, the students are a lot more energetic and kind of chaotic. A lot more of my job on a daily basis was making sure they were in their seats and listening and not on the ground wrestling each other. As opposed to here, I can come in and students are in their seats ready to go, when I’m talking they’re listening. But they were really fun students who were active and playful and they were bright too, definitely hard-working and willing to learn.
Q: What did you learn from this experience in Spain?
A: I loved being exposed to a different culture. I’ve been in the US all my life, [and] I haven’t spent much time in another country prior to Spain. So I really liked the chance to be around a different lifestyle. For example, [Spain was] a lot more walkable, with more use of public transportation. [Spain] tends to be a lot more community-based whereas the US is so individualized within a family that oftentimes in the US family, [you become] 18 and you’re gone. In Spain, it’s more common to stay at home during college and attend college while you’re at home or those kinds of things – it’s just a different lifestyle in a lot of ways.
Q: What sports and activities do you play now?
A: [In the] last couple of years, I’ve gotten back into running lightly, [but] not in the way cross country does it. I got an e-bike last month [and] I’ve been riding it around [while also] working out in the gym. I’ve been going to a rock climbing gym as well. I am trying to be active in different ways. [Exercising is] a great way to detach from school a little bit after the day. If I had a stressful day or I had something weighing on me, it’s just kind of a relief from that. It makes sure that I’m not focused on school all the time and I’ve got other interests that are keeping me engaged on a daily basis. I’ll watch some football, some basketball, [but] mostly NFL. I’m a Bengals Fan [and] I am really excited for the season to start.
Q: Why do you love teaching?
A: I’ve just always liked helping people, like in school, helping a classmate with something, or my high school had some peer tutoring available. I did that and enjoyed working with younger students and helping them with their various classes. I just liked learning and I enjoy science, history, and reading despite teaching math. I just like to hear what different students are up to and talk with them and help them with it. My [college] had a two-year teaching program, where you get a master’s in teaching and you get the chance to try that out to see if you like it. I joined that and taught for two years and I really liked it, it was a really good fit for me. I just like working with students [and] I think that they bring a lot of life on a daily basis, a lot of energy. I like that students are silly and that they’re kind of all over the place. The students are really what makes teaching worth it for me.
Q: Why choose the subject of math?
A: I didn’t know exactly what subjects I wanted to teach when I started teaching. My first few years I taught both science and math and I found that math just really ended up being my preference. I think it’s just the most straightforward even though a lot of people struggle with that, it’s a fairly straightforward class to teach in terms of this is what we need to know and this is how we are going to get to it. [In math] you are finding the solution and it’s generally your right or you’re wrong and there’s a lot of process that goes into that. I like that at the end of the day you are finding an answer. Whereas, with an English class, there is so much debate over something and I think that’s great but I really found that I love teaching this [math] style.
Q: Is there anything about Bishops that caught your eye?
A: I was just looking in California [and] I saw that Bishops had an opportunity open. I looked into the school and saw [that] it [was] right by the water, down in La Jolla, it’s beautiful, and I could just see that it was a school that had high standards. They [Bishop’s] took learning seriously and had students who were excited to learn. When I had the chance to interview and talk with the school, I really enjoyed meeting the faculty, and the other teachers. There’s just a lot of warmth and welcomeness that they provided and made it feel like a good fit for me.
Q: Advice for kids in middle and high school?
A: Be willing to work hard and commit and have a strong mindset towards learning. But also, make sure that you have other interests and other things that can give you life on a daily basis outside of what you’re doing in school.
Q: What is one motto/quote you live by?
A: Be kind.
