This school year, a new member of the staff came in with much enthusiasm to start his first-ever year of teaching.

 Mr. Jordan Hester is from Jacksonville, Florida, and has lived on the West Coast, so he has come from far to find his place at Craig.

 “I love Craig. It has a good supporting staff that emphasizes teamwork. My students are very hardworking and nice. Good people,” said Mr. Hester with a grin.

 Originally an officer in the U.S. Navy, Mr. Hester finally settled down and used his bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida to start his teaching career.

Despite majoring in chemistry and minoring in mathematics, Mr. Hester expresses there isn’t anything he would love to teach more than math.

When coming out of his life on naval submarines, Mr. Hester needed a new place to start and moved to the Milwaukee area where he knew a few friends. 

When asked if he had ever seen a winter, he smiled and nodded. He has one winter under his belt. 

He has found that working at Craig is a little like the Navy.

 “When being an officer, I had to keep everyone engaged yet keep everything light in order to have some fun,” he expressed. In this way, Mr. Hester sees himself as someone with high energy who is ready to use that energy to influence others. 

Mr. Hester has always loved being able to know he was doing something that had a purpose. Through teaching, he feels he can make an impact on the younger generations while also staying in math since he has a technical background. 

“People always seem afraid of mathematics and we break it up into math people or non-math people. I disagree with that since everyone has the potential to be good at math,” he said.

 Mr. Hester expressed that he will feel like he has done good when he is able to show everyone that fact. 

Although he teaches both Math 1 and Math 2 along with Calculus, he loves teaching Math 1 (Algebra) overall. He never was a big fan of Geometry (taught in Math 2), but maybe this will help him relate to students.

“We can bond over our dislike of geometry!” he said.

He thanks one of his high school math teachers, Dr. Wei Kitto, for teaching him Calculus AB and Calculus BC which helped him come to where he is today. 

 Although the pandemic and remote teaching have given his teaching career has a dreary start, Mr. Hester said he wouldn’t base his experience of teaching at Craig on COVID 19 closures or limits. 

“People define an experience and help grow my character,” Mr. Hester explained. In fact, Mr. Hester values humility, empathy, and confidence, which Craig has shown him in his first few weeks of teaching. 

While some of his math colleagues have had some unusual experiences from remote learning, Mr. Hester hasn’t had any. 

He only suggests that “students mute themselves when not talking and also check the background of their video.”

He added, “One never knows what the rest of the class could see!”

With more online classes and homework deadlines, Mr. Hester strives to give students the enthusiasm they need to get through these circumstances. 

But no matter where students are learning–in the classroom or not–Mr. Hester suggests to “work hard, be on time, tell the truth, don’t be afraid of failure. Failure is an awesome teacher.” 

Mr. Hester has no plans to advise a club or coach a team but said, “I am happy to work where I am needed. I am excited to learn about student organizations at Craig.” 

Outside of teaching, he enjoys an array of activities pastimes. 

He loves to exercise and likes to “go on a good run” wherever he can fit one in to clear his mind. 

“I also love the outdoors and going on a good hike,” he said. 

In fact, Mr. Hester crossed the United States on a bicycle as part of a Bike and Build project in order to raise awareness for affordable housing for college students. 

While COVID has limited his travel, Mr. Hester can still make use of his time at home for another love: cooking! 

When it comes to books, his favorite is The Firm by John Grisham, a thriller about a lawyer who finds out some horrible truths about the law firm he works for..

 He also loves the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, a comedy about two men trying to get home for Thanksgiving, and TV classics like The Office and Schitt’s Creek. 

One could find Mr. Hester listening to classic rock or Motown. 

Mr. Hester finds himself moving a lot and not being able to settle, but says, “I hope one day that I can.”

His future also might include traveling to places like Russia or South America as well as scuba diving.

For now, he is happy to be at Craig, despite the chaotic start to the school year.

“This isn’t the school year any of us would pick, but it is the school year we are given,” he said. “Grow where you are planted. Go Cougars!”