Mr. Adam Colestock

Every person has his or her own fate to follow, their path to create, and some people take the road to Parker. You may be familiar with Mr. Colestock through his work with the coding club or the after school robotics program. He is much involved with science and mathematics-based enrichment programs. In fact, he does a lot more than you may assume.

Mr. Colestock moved from outside Philadelphia to Oak Park after his sophomore year of high school, and he went to Parker for the last two years of high school. Moving to Oak Park was nerve-racking for Mr. Colestock, as he was new and didn't know anyone. Mr. Colestock attended Williams College in Massachusetts, where he majored in mathematics. He also holds a Master's degree in that field. After college, Mr. Colestock came back to Parker to become a tech assistant, then he went to graduate school at Northwestern. He went into a Ph. D. program at Northwestern where he studied schools, sociology, and how people learn. While he was there, Mr. Colestock designed a cool project in which teachers wore cameras on their hats to learn more about their interactions while teaching (which you can learn more about by clicking here or here). He stayed at Northwestern for five years for his Ph. D. program, but left before writing his dissertation. Mr. Colestock chose the job he has now because he is really interested in the things he studied in graduate school. He also really enjoys having hands-on experiences and helping kids learn. If he had not gotten this job at Parker, Mr. Colestock says he would be designing software or writing games. He values the school's community and people, and he likes that his job varies. He gets to be on his feet, doing different things every day.

One of Mr. Colestock's favorite parts of his job is coaching middle school robotics after school. He likes work that challenges the brain, and he also likes computer science. His favorite part of his job is going into classes and helping. If there had been a robotics team at Parker when he was here, Mr. Colestock says, he would have been on it. During these two-and-a-half months working with energized students, he helps them build a robot and solve challenges as part of a competition. Mr. Colestock likes his job because he likes long term projects and helping students learn how to use different tools and to do activities using computers. The one part Mr. Colestock is not as fond of is assigning grades. For example, with the eighth grade, the students had a physics project, and at the end they invited the fourth grade to play the games with them. To him, it doesn’t feel right that he has to assign grades for a project like that.

Mr. Colestock works with the fourth through eighth grades. He runs STEM Week with the fifth grade. In last year's STEM Week, he said, they crammed too much into the week, so this year he made the change of explaining only a couple of topics. He does a coding project every year with sixth grade. He also does design projects with seventh grade, where students work together to identify and design a change to help the school. Mr. Colestock helps the eighth grade do a physics project. In addition to coaching robotics, he also does Science Olympiad. Mr. Colestock does many jobs to contribute to the community.

Mr. Colestock has an intriguing life outside of school. He likes to read in his free time (preferably science fiction), and does the teacher book club to expand his palate. Mr. Colestock forces himself to read other genres of books he hasn’t really read before. He has also played and practiced guitar for over six years at the Old Town School of Folk Music. In his spare time, Mr. Colestock enjoys tinkering, rock climbing and yoga. Mr. Colestock has had many jobs before this: newspaper boy, bakery shop employee, house painter, babysitter, and camp counselor.

With his many responsibilities within the school and his wide range of activities that he pursues in his free time, Mr. Colestock has found his path in life and is eager to continue the journey. We are very thankful to him for agreeing to be interviewed and being so gracious with his time.