McKinley High School has announced its OC16 Teacher for School Year 2011-12. The teacher who got this award is social studies teacher Eric Bott, who has 10 years experience of teaching, nine of which have been at McKinley. He wanted a career that could make him feel fulfilled and satisfied, so he chose to become a teacher. In his mind, he sees McKinley as a beautiful place for teachers to teach and a nice environment for students to get a good education.

“I feel very fortunate to be a teacher at MHS,” he said.

For his students, he “hopes that they all can find a career that is suitable for them and in this way become happy, productive, law-abiding citizens.”

He said each subject has its own strengths; however, social studies can lead students to the right and moral way in our community.

He quoted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who said “We have guided missiles and misguided men.”

Therefore, he felt that becoming a social studies teacher was meaningful.

He said, “We have an opportunity to help our youth become the guided men and women of tomorrow.”

He is a very humble teacher because when Principal Ron Okamura informed him about the award, he was surprised, and his first feeling was to “gratefully decline it on the grounds that with so many other qualified teachers here – well, how could I accept?”

In the end, he humbly accepted the award on behalf of all McKinley’s faculty.

When speaking of his goals for the rest of his career, he said, “It can seem that the more you teach, the less you feel you know, and it is like a dog trying to catch his tail. One day I hope to catch the tail.”