What makes the faculty at Cristo Rey Columbus so special is their passion and dedication to our mission. We took a moment to catch up with Social Studies teacher, Mr. Oliver Corrigan about his experience as a member of the CRC faculty for the past 10 years:
Q: What do you find most rewarding about teaching at Cristo Rey?
A: Over the years, I have taught every grade level at Cristo Rey. For most of my career here I’ve taught sophomore US History and AP US History. I love all the students, but something I really enjoy about teaching the 10th grade history classes, in particular, is when they start to make connections with what we are studying in the past with what is going on today. It might sound silly, but I get a thrill when a student runs up to me in the morning and says, “Mr. Corrigan! I’ve been seeing these memes online and I finally get the joke now!” because it relates to some event in US History. You’d be amazed how often that happens, actually. These connections also happen in quieter, more serious ways, when a student, passionate about a certain injustice or problem in the world, through their studies, begins to put whatever issue it is into historical context.
Q: How do you help Sophomores stay engaged and excited about U.S. History and AP U.S. History?
A: Sometimes I will have a student at the beginning of the year who will say to me, “I don’t like history.” My standard reply is “I don’t believe that. You don’t like History CLASS, but that’s a different thing.” Everyone has something they care about in the world. One of the reasons we study history is for humility’s sake – it helps us to remember, “Oh yeah. The world didn’t start with me.” There were people and events that came before us, and to understand the world we live in now, we have to have some appreciation for the past. My experience has been that most students can get on board with that, so the issue is truly almost always their perception of what a history class will be.
I have the easiest job in the building, since I am fortunate enough to teach US History – the highs and lows of the American experience throughout time are filled with the kind of drama that no fictional story could ever produce. My job as the teacher is just to point students in the direction of discovering this excitement for themselves. We read a lot of primary sources. Why? So you don’t rely on me to tell you what to think – it’s time to make your own judgments. Why else? So you can see that these people were real flesh and blood humans like you and me, who really loved and despaired, who lived and died, who were not like us in some ways, but actually quite like us in so many other ways. How can that not thrill a young person’s soul if you give them the opportunity to read these things? We also do science-fair style projects, so students can get their hands dirty with real research. When the weather cooperates, we go out to the topiary park for Socratic seminars to discuss big issues like immigration and race. Occasionally I’ll drag out the keyboard, and we’ll sing long forgotten songs from a bygone era.
Every year, my AP US History class makes a documentary film covering everything they studied that year. This is on them. I just stand by and watch. It’s not about me. It’s about the students. A teacher mentor of mine once said to me, “The kids should be working harder than you” and I’ve taken that to heart. Set high expectations, give the students some real history to chew on, and stand back. How can you go wrong with that?
Q: Did you help start the student podcast? If so, what inspired you, and what’s one thing you hope students gain from it?
A: Yes and no. The Cristo Rey Podcast was started by my good friend and former Cristo Rey Columbus government teacher, Zac Deibel. When he came up with the idea, I don’t think I had ever heard a podcast before! Mr. Deibel, alongside three members of student council, started the podcast a few weeks into the COVID shutdown. It was envisioned as a temporary way to keep the school community together in those last few months when we unexpectedly were separated from each other. My involvement was minimal – Mr. Deibel asked me to create a funny theme song, which for some reason I agreed to do. Mr. Deibel left at the end of that year to pursue his PhD. (A feat he has now accomplished, by the way. Dr. Deibel, as he is now known, is currently a professor of history at the Virginia Military Institute.)
As mentioned above, the podcast was supposed to be a temporary thing, but when Mr. Deibel left, the three student hosts asked me if I would help them keep it going. I didn’t know the first thing about how to do that, but I didn’t want to let them down, so I agreed. Since then, the podcast has become a huge part of my life at Cristo Rey. We’ve been producing episodes every Friday for 7 school years – in November we will be celebrating the 200th episode! During that time, we’ve had many student hosts, teams of student audio editors, and multiple graphic designers, several of which started as freshmen and have gone on to college now.
One thing I love about the podcast is that every episode is a little time capsule of the history of Cristo Rey Columbus. At any time, you can go back into the archives and find recordings of students and staff – many long gone on to new adventures – and it is like they are here again. We have clips of freshmen saying things like “I’m going to be a doctor. I’m going to be a lawyer.” What a blessing that once they achieve those goals, they can go back and hear that little freshman voice again. So, this “temporary COVID-era project” really took on a life of its own and we have no plans of stopping it now. And, yes, unfortunately I still write the theme music.