Mr. Conroy is a new student teacher at Roxbury High School. When he is not teaching, he is learning more about his future career path at The College of New Jersey. When he graduates, he would like to continue on the Structural Design and Fabrication teaching path by teaching high school students in either engineering, SDF, or Woodshop. Right now, he wishes that COVID did not impact the time in his class, as the half days make it very short. He can not wait to go back to a normal schedule. He is looking forward to seeing the walls of the class’ current project, building a house, stand up vertically. He is currently being mentored by Mr. Caccavelle in the structural design class. He speaks very highly of Mr. Caccavale, saying that he is “a great mentor” and that he has “taught [him] a lot.” 

                 Mr. Conroy is currently learning about education and Structural design with his courses at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ). So far, he has been cooperating with Mr. Caccavale, Mr. Miller, Mr. Wood, and many others in the office staff. He likes the environment and the people at the high school and, therefore, he hopes to pursue a career in a high school rather than an elementary school. In his personal opinion, working in a middle school would be worse than high school, but he could withstand it. 

                Mr. Caccavale used to teach Mr. Conroy and pushed him to get into the SDF field. Although he couldn’t help Mr. Conroy get into TCNJ, Mr. Conroy had always been wanting to go to that field and Mr. Caccavelle suggested their program was very strong. Another one of Mr. Conroy’s role models was his middle school teacher, who now works at TCNJ. He was the one who really drove Mr. Conroy down the college path to TCNJ. Mr. Conroy says that he “ keeps in contact with him still today.” If it wasn’t for his middle school teacher really driving him towards TCNJ, he could’ve picked a different college. He said in our interview that he was between TCNJ and Millersville College in Lancaster, PA but it ultimately came down to staying in state, being close to home, and knowing people at the college he is attending. For this reason, TCNJ was always his number 1 choice.

             When he was younger, he was always interested in “the tech side of things,” and he originally thought he would want to work at some type of broadcasting station. When he got into high school he took some woodshop classes, and that was when he knew that the path for the rest of his life was going to be something in the carpentry business. He decided that teaching classes like the ones he took in high school would be a great career for him.  He instantly fell in love with the fact that he could teach other kids his skills in this field. 

          Overall, from Mr. Conroy’s perspective, student teaching has been a positive experience. He has had the support he needs from our faculty and staff to become a future teacher as he continues in life. He really is happy with the path he is taking and his college has been treating him very well during co-op with our Roxbury High School. In the future, he wants to pursue this and teach kids that skill of wood or design of some sort. He cannot wait to continue this school year, despite the minor setback that COVID has presented. So, the life of being a new teacher at Roxbury High School sounds pretty good!