Welcome to the 2026-2027 School Year, CHS Dragons!  

This year is my THIRTIETH year in education...YIKES!!!!  That is a long time...I have been teaching since the late 1990s...which used to be not much of a claim to fame, but now is three decades ago.  In the spirit of longevity, I would like to get this school year off to a successful start, and having you be able to read my official bio is one way to do that.  We are getting this learning page adjusted to reflect the beginning  of the 2026-27 school year...  "So yeah..." (to take a two-word phrase from my step-daughter, McKenzie, who just graduated from cosmetology school and has been a licensed cosmetologist for over a year and a half now).

For those of you that don't know me or have not had me in class, I was born in Arlington Heights, Illinois the same year the Beatles came to America, quickly established my allegiance to the Chicago White Sox (who are not the worst team in all of Major League Baseball anymore, but could be playoff bound this season...YAY!!!!), "da Bears,"  and the Land of Lincoln, in general.  In 1974 (FIFTY-TWO years ago...yikes!), my family moved to the great state of Colorado, where my dad and uncle purchased a candy store in Loveland that we owned and operated for most of the next fifteen years.  So yes, I am probably the ONLY history teacher in the state of Colorado who actually MADE candy for a living during my teens and early twenties.  I loved that job, and my favorite candy, by the way, was something called "Heavenly Hash," made with chocolate, homemade marshmallow, and pecans....DEE-LICIOUS!!!!!  Hey, I have a proposition for you...and it has been a proposition that I have offered since last year:  if you read this, come into my classroom and tell me what I wrote here and what my favorite candy was, I will buy you something from Cassidy's Snack Shack...just once per student this hexter.  After my parents sold the candy shop, I sold real estate for a year before going to Aims Community College and the University of Northern Colorado, graduating in 1996.  I started my teaching career at a small K-12 school in southeastern Colorado in 1997, teaching all social studies classes, including reading, speech, and yearbook.  I left there to get married in 2015, and began teaching at Centennial, literally TWO DAYS later (my wife was really thrilled about that).  I'm a big sports fan...LOVE the Nuggets (and have for almost half a century), am a BIG FAN of the Denver Broncos (since 1976...FIFTY YEARS), and I can finally talk up my White Sox...who are in FIRST PLACE at this point...and hopefully can remain there!  So, I am beginning my twelfth year at Centennial and my thirtieth year of teaching overall, and really love what I do and being here at this wonderful place.

I hope you all are excited and ready to start the 2025-26 school year.   So I am stoked about the upcoming school year and, as always, I believe it's important that you show up, keep your eyes on the prize and move towards your ultimate goal of graduation.  I hope all is well within your family...that everyone in your sphere is healthy and that you are ready begin the first hexter of this educational journey!  I just want you all to know that I am here to help you through the academics of American history and humanities, and that if you need someone to talk to, that I am here for you in that role as well.  This learning page is kind of the "home-base" for our class. I always remember that, as a kid, if I got lost, I would always remember where home was and find my way there...and believe me, even as an adult, I GET LOST...A LOT!!!  Just ask my wife, Megan, or any number of people that I work with.  If anyone needs a home base, it's me!  With that in mind, I hope that you find this "learning page" a helpful tool to reference if you get lost and need to find that base to start from again.  With that in mind, let's have a great hexter and a great New School Year ahead.  I look forward to seeing you all in class!  Oh, and by the way, my favorite candy was "Heavenly Hash."