By Sean Chae
Mr. Mills has been at Jericho High School for 29 years. He was a lab assistant for the first three years and then an Earth Science teacher ever since. He always strived to make his class funny and entertaining for his students while also equipping them with the skills to succeed in his class and in their futures.
Mr. Mills’ path to his current career has been a long and winding road. Mr. Mills has experience as a janitor, a hospital worker, assistant boat mechanic at the Third Precinct Police Marine Bureau, a bartender, a cab driver, and as an employee at an advertising agency.
Mr. Mills eventually settled into teaching. He said, “You really learn a lot about yourself when you teach. I feel like that’s the best part of the experience. Unless you do it you have no idea what teaching is like. It’s really a great journey in many ways.”
Mr. Mills stated that one of his goals is to always be funny when teaching, as he remembers his teachers practically being “stand-up comedians.”
Mr. Mills likes to tell jokes while teaching, always leaving his students in a good mood.
Freshman Patricia Yan said, “I will always remember Mr. Mills as the person who actually made science interesting for me.”
Outside of teaching, Mr. Mills has many hobbies, including piloting aircraft, whether he is in the cockpit himself or flying a remote controlled model.
Many know Mr. Mills as an expert photographer. In fact, he has a thriving business selling his art on various online platforms.
Now that his career is drawing to a close, Mr. Mills has many plans for his life after retirement. These mainly include travel and photography. He hopes to visit places like Antarctica, New Zealand, and Australia after his wife retires. In addition, he is looking forward to spending time with his dogs.
When looking back at all he has done at Jericho, Mr. Mills feels most proudly about how he has taught his students. “I try as a teacher to plant seeds that will bear fruit in the future. So I try and give my students the understandings that I think are going to benefit them in the long run,” he said.
Mr. Mills’ parting words are aimed at the next generation of teachers and learners to consider their interpersonal interactions. “If I had a vision for how I’d like to see schools in the future, it would be teachers and students talking and interacting more socially and less electronically and technically,” he said.
Mr. Mills will be missed at Jericho High School, and we wish him well in his next adventure.