This school year, Hidden Valley has received four new teachers in the English department. Mr. Bui is one of the teachers who has recently joined the faculty. Coming from Hollins University, he has seemingly taken into stride the major change one can expect from teaching at a university level to a high school level. His love for teaching has no boundaries.

Mr. Bui’s love for ideas and sharing ideas is what primarily got him into teaching. According to him, “teaching contributes to society in a way that surpasses economic gain, prestige, and power”. The magnitude of teaching’s influence is not appreciated by most.

The main difference Mr. Bui has noticed between teaching high school and university students is focus, attention, and self-guidance. However, high school students are more receptive to building relationships with their teachers. Mr. Bui does consider how high school and university are structured differently, specifically in lessons plans. In college, lessons plans are content focused, while high school lesson plans are a step to the ‘ultimate goal’. He thinks the structural differences are based on maturity levels between the two groups. “Both high school and academia have their pros and cons,” said Mr. Bui.

Mr. Bui is planning on going back into academia eventually because his true calling does lie within it. He sees himself earning a Ph.D., but he wants to dedicate a few years to high school before then.

Natalee Bowling is a freshman who is in Mr. Bui’s AP Literature English class. She finds Mr. Bui to be a great teacher and enjoys the class. She described his teaching as, “ensuring the students understand the content before assigning classwork”. Bowling believes that Mr. Bui will prepare them for the AP exam, which is further proven by his attentive nature.

Mr. Bui’s love for teaching extends to the respect he holds for his students. Teaching on a high school level is a learning opportunity for him as well while he takes a break from the academic world.