After hearing about The Bishop’s School his whole life, Mr. Bryan Barry — who grew up in La Jolla — is becoming an eighth-grade science teacher here. Mr. Barry began his career as an engineer, but quickly gravitated towards teaching and has been an educator ever since.
Q: What made you want to pursue a career in education, and science in particular?
Well, I actually didn’t plan on going into education out of school. I went to school for engineering and worked in the engineering field for a few years, but my mom was an educator and a lot of my extended family are in education. About three years into my career, a new principal approached me about coming to teach engineering at her school. It sounded like a really exciting thing and I’ve always liked working with kids. And, being a teacher is a very different thing than working in engineering, so I was just excited about a different opportunity to connect with kids about engineering at the time when I first got into it.
Q: What specifically brought you to Bishop’s?
Well, I grew up here in La Jolla and so I had lots of friends who went here and I always knew how amazing of a place it was from them. So I was always aware of Bishop’s in that way. I was working in public school for about 13 years and I had always thought that maybe Bishop’s would be a spot for me, and then there was an opportunity to apply and I went for it. I didn’t really think it was gonna happen, but it’s worked out great so far. And I think this campus is amazing and, like I said, I knew a lot of people that were already part of the Bishop’s community, so I just knew it was a very welcoming place where I might have the opportunity to really grow as a teacher. It felt a little stagnant at my old spot where I wasn’t getting much support to become a better teacher.
Q: What are your interests and hobbies outside of your job?
Well, I’m very into gardening and just growing things. We grow all kinds of things at our house, but avocados are one of the main things. We have chickens at our house, so I do a lot of outdoor garden work. I would say it’s one of my favorite things. I have three daughters that are all pretty young and so just being outside with them doing anything is pretty nice. And also swimming. I love playing sports like beach volleyball. It’s a hobby of mine I haven’t really been doing for a while, but scuba diving is something that I’ve always been pretty passionate about. And surfing! Anything to do with the ocean, I would say.
Q: What makes you most excited about working here?
I think I’m excited to work here because the students are so excited to learn and that is already helping. I could see how it’s helping me grow as a teacher because in science we are trying to make sense of the world around us, but even though I’ve taught science for a long time, it doesn’t mean I have all the answers. And so I want students to continue to ask the difficult questions and challenge me to deepen my understanding of how the world works, because I think that’s one of the coolest things about teaching in general, but also teaching science. And, before this I taught elementary school, so kids would ask very amazing questions, but this — eighth grade science — is a higher level teaching and that’s just something that I think is gonna push me to explore new projects and ideas.
Q: Do you have anything else to add?
Just that I am loving it so far and everyone’s been super welcoming and… I just love it. It’s great.
