Too often, students see their teachers as just that. There’s an old joke that teachers live in their classroom, and even include it in children’s books. However, teachers are much more than what they teach in front of their students and only see it as half of their day. Mr. Roberts is one of those teachers that has a life that goes way beyond the classroom.

After school on Thursday, I had a great opportunity to interview one of Victor Central High School’s teachers, Mr Roberts. As a student who had him my sophomore year, I never got to see him as a person, other than an adult who taught our global 10 class. 

After all the “mediocre lunches” and “negative bucks” being thrown out in class, I was interested in learning more about him and his life outside of the classroom. It wasn’t until going to one of the basketball games, that I found out that Mr. Roberts is the varsity boys basketball coach.

As a kid, he had big dreams of being “an NBA player, and once that dream fell through, [he] figured that [he] needed to stay involved in basketball somehow.” As someone who has a passion for sports and wants to have it still be a part of their life, “teaching is a good avenue for that,” as he continues to be an inspiration and influence on the team.

For 4 years, Mr. Roberts has continued to be a teacher by day, and coach at night. He says that “teaching helps me with coaching because I get to learn different techniques to reach different kids and their learning styles.”

As a student in high school, Mr. Roberts has had “a few inspirational coaches in his life that were also teachers such as, Mr. Fenocaltro(varsity football coach) and physics teacher, Mr. Pelsic who also taught basketball.” These people were a huge influence throughout his high school career as well as now as he concludes that “those guys changed my life.”