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Can you describe your experience at the Gatton Academy? 
My experiences at the Academy were the most enlightening times of my entire life. When I was there I was deeply struggling with who I was as an individual and learning to come to terms with things that I could not change. I had no clue what I really wanted to do for the rest of my life, but I knew that I had a strong ability in math and science. The person that walked through the door on the first day of orientation was almost entirely different from the person that graduated from WKU only 3 years later. My experience at the Academy was filled with laughter, good memories, and amazing friends that I will never forget. While we certainly had our hard times, my peers became the family that supported me through thick and thin. They were there and loved me even as I struggled with loving myself. They opened my eyes in ways that I can’t even begin to calculate or put into words. Many of them don’t know the impacts they had on me or the courage that I found in them. When I look back I know that I was in the right place with the right people. The experience was beautiful and one that has forever shaped my future.
How have your experiences at the Gatton Academy helped you in your adult life?
Wow, that’s a crazy loaded question. It was at Gatton that I learned how to trust others and love others. I will never forget the talks that Andrew Gott and I had about love and how it must be the most perfect thing in the Universe. Many of those talks shaped my worldview and have enabled me to become the person I am today. Seeing the love that Tim showed each of us and his family taught me what it meant to be a loving individual, an amazing dad and a wonderful husband. In my classes I was pushed more than I ever had been in my entire life. I learned that it’s okay to struggle and it’s sometimes necessary to ask for help. My classes prepared me for graduate school and teaching in high poverty urban schools.
Since the Academy, what have you been up to?
I’ve been busy since I graduated from the Academy in 2009. I finished my B.S. in Biology and Religious Studies at WKU in 2010. That fall I moved to Washington, DC to begin my Ph.D in Biological Sciences at the George Washington University. After a short time there I found myself unhappy but completely in love with teaching(I was a TA there). I applied for DC Teaching Fellows and started teaching the following summer. I received full teaching credentials to teach Secondary Biology. At my school I have been rated a highly effective teacher and have held many additional positions both at the school and district level. Last year I organized the first(or one of the first) LGBTQ Pride Day’s in a public high school. It was the first for the District of Columbia. The Mayor attended along with 25+ LGBTQ organizations and 70+ volunteers. The events are spreading this year as I seek to put the initiative in more schools throughout the region with the support of many non-profits and the District of Columbia’s Public Schools. I expect to be appointed to the Mayor’s Advisory Board for GLBT Affairs in the next couple of weeks. Soon I will be responsible for helping to implement the District’s new anti-bullying policy and will be serving on several panels to help make the community aware of the issues that students face on a regular basis. A few weeks ago I finished my M.Ed at American University focusing on Education Policy and Leadership.
What do you aspire to achieve in the next ten years?
This is probably the most difficult question to answer. Right now I’m looking to either find a non-profit to be a fiscal sponsor for my high school programs or to start my own non-profit. I don’t have any intentions of leaving the classroom but am strongly committed to creating change for LGBTQ students in schools across the country starting with DC. I’ve toyed with the idea of running for council in the next ten years but for now I’m not sure. I do know that I want to continue to change lives by having an impact on the kids that walk through my door everyday. The professors at WKU and the staff at the Academy instilled in me the importance of doing what makes you happy and helps others. The rest will take care of itself.
What was your favorite memory from your time at the Gatton Academy?
There are so many favorite memories that I have from the Academy. I could talk about trying to figure out how many marshmallows I could fit in my mouth with Katie Riley, Kaitlin Hartley or Manny Cortez while playing “I’m A Chubby Bunny”. Maybe it was playing frisbee out by FAC and having the time of my life with Luke Akridge and so many others. Perhaps it was the ski trips where I ended up just playing in the snow because I had no ability to stand up when on a slippery surface. It might be eating so much corn on the cob that I got sick just so we could make a corn pyramid to put on the conveyer belt at DUC. There are so many beautiful memories that I had at the Academy it has become impossible to pinpoint which was my favorite. I think my favorite memory from my time at the Academy is happening right now as I reminisce on how perfect the whole experience was. I was a caterpillar in a cocoon that had a transformation to undergo. The Academy was my cocoon and I have come out stronger, better, and ready to take on the world.
We would like to thank Chris for taking time out of his schedule to be interviewed.
