J.P. McCaskey High School has a lot of unique chemistry teachers. Every single one of them has their own unique ways of pushing their students towards success. Teachers do this through challenging them with projects or simply helping them with a problem. However, one chemistry teacher at McCaskey stands out. This teacher has become the life of room 252. That is thanks to McCaskey’s very own Benjamin Hatch. During an interview, Mr. Hatch would talk about himself and the dynamics of being a teacher.

     Mr. Hatch is a big personality. He stands out as a uniquely different personality-wise compared to other teachers. He comes off as very caring of his students and very nerdy in a positive way. Mr. Hatch went on to discuss these topics along with the events that turned him into the man he is today. Before he came to McCaskey, Mr. Hatch moved his family from Connecticut to Pennsylvania so he could work at a problem-based learning school. After teaching there for 15 years, he did not get his contract renewed—a low point for Mr. Hatch. During these lows, he would eventually find his way to a place that, as he said, always offers help when needed. This place is J.P. McCaskey High School. The students at McCaskey made him feel welcome. They cared for him, and he cared for them in return. The shared care between him and the students led him to begin building lasting bonds with them. These bonds often involve shared interests between Mr. Hatch and the students, which result in Mr. Hatch being perceived by many as nerdy in a good way. An example of this is that he plays video games with his students. All of this would culminate in Mr. Hatch becoming a teacher whom students know will care about them.

     To Mr. Hatch, building good relationships with students helps him be better as a teacher. One way Mr. Hatch builds relationships is by playing games with them. Some games Mr. Hatch plays with his students include Clash Royale, a mobile strategy game; Among Us, an investigative game; and physical games like Magic: the Gathering. He has even started his own Clash Royale clan/group for students to join! To him, the fact that he is interested in many of the same things his students are helps him build teacher-student relationships. By getting to know his students as people, Mr. Hatch has become better equipped to help them in and out of the classroom.

     When asked about challenging his students, Mr. Hatch would not shy from mentioning the importance of giving students a proper challenge. In his eyes, students who face challenges will do better. He cited a study that showed students who tackled something demanding for two years are more likely to succeed in high school. To him, AP and IB courses are great systems of challenge for students. However, not everyone can complete AP and IB courses. Mr. Hatch proposed a solution to this problem that involves encouraging students to participate in activities that are foreign or challenging to them. Think things like dancing or chess. Mr. Hatch applies these ideas in the classroom by assigning students challenging assignments and projects that require critical thinking to complete.

     However, Mr. Hatch ensures that he blends his elevated expectations with support and aid. To him, one of the beauties of McCaskey is the blend of challenge with support. He uses the scene from Harry Potter where Dumbledore helps Harry by giving him a sword. When Harry asks why he got the sword, Dumbledore explains that those who need help will receive it. Mr. Hatch views his classroom and McCaskey the same. In his classroom, those who need help will always receive it.

     Being a teacher is not easy. The dynamics of teaching present complex challenges that teachers may struggle with. These issues are especially apparent when teachers are operating within the framework of a fundamentally flawed system. The fact that schools employed flawed systems of education is a problem for Mr. Hatch, as he views the current education system as flawed. In his eyes, students should not feel compelled to take ten classes daily for academic reasons. He thinks that rather than schools assigning students to work all day on easy and tedious work, they should have students work on challenging problems that take less time instead. He explained that challenging problems provoked more thought compared to easier problems, citing research from Angela Duckworth.

     Artificial intelligence has become an enigma in the realm of education. Mr. Hatch made sure to acknowledge this. He views artificial intelligence as a technology, where, similarly to other innovative technologies, it can have positive and negative implementations. Obviously, Mr. Hatch sees that students can employ artificial intelligence to cheat on their assignments. However, Mr. Hatch made extra emphasis on the positives of artificial intelligence. He explained that because large language models like ChatGPT excel at drawing conclusions based on patterns, they can help teachers better assess their students. These large language models can draw conclusions based on patterns much faster than teachers can, which saves teachers time and effort that they could be using to help their students grow. Overall, Mr. Hatch views the ability to use artificial intelligence to assist with assessing students will better enable teachers to support the academic journeys of their students.

     When asked why he is a teacher and loves teaching, he went on to mention the importance of having the ability to design engaging experiences for students. He believes that his students should have fun, challenging, and interactive assignments to work on. He even went on to admit that if he could be a designer for a living, he would. In his eyes, crafting fun and challenging experiences for students is a core component of his classroom. Mr. Hatch chose to teach chemistry partially because it allows him to design the experience for students. Another reason Mr. Hatch chose to teach chemistry was his high grade in chemistry back in high school. Overall, Mr. Hatch views being able to design the class experience for students with high regard.

     Mr. Hatch also talked about his past and future as a teacher. He mentioned how in the past, he taught AP and IB classes at other schools. More specifically, physics and chemistry. As previously stated, Mr. Hatch believes these AP and IB courses are great systems of challenge for students. He has also taught engineering and game design in the past, which brought him to his next point. Mr. Hatch wants McCaskey to add a design class. Mr. Hatch then went on to talk about the course itself. He said that the course would teach students to analyze real-world situations and design solutions for them.

     Mr. Hatch would also give some fun facts about himself that he wants the school to know. First of all, he has a love for Magic: the Gathering. He loves the game and the ability to play with students and new people. He went as far as to say that if he could go to any place in the world, it would be a convention center to play Magic: The Gathering. Secondly, he loves pizza. Pizza is among his favorite foods in the world. He would even give a shocking hot take about pizza. He believes that pineapple does, in fact, belong on pizza! Staying on the topic of food, Mr. Hatch loves cooking. He loves cooking foods like noodles, falafels, and beans for his family to enjoy. The final thing he would talk about is why he loves McCaskey in the first place. He loves McCaskey because of the support it offers to students when needed, just like it did to him.

     Mr. Hatch is quite the personality. He comes off as nerdy, but caring. His ability to build relationships with students is especially unique among teachers. After all, he literally has his own Clash Royale clan for students to join! While he may be controversial in some aspects, such as his opinion that pineapple belongs on pizza, it is clear that he cares about his students. He ensures they are challenged, but supported. He makes sure he is there for his students, as they were for him when Mr. Hatch was going through his highs and lows as a teacher. In the end, Mr. Hatch stands out as a uniquely caring and interesting teacher who has captivated students campus-wide for years.