A Look Through the Lens: Mr. Mattsen’s Journey to Teaching

Madison Milla

You’re on a beach. It’s night time and the sea breeze brushes against your face and through your hair. Your nose is pointed up as your naturally curious child self gazes at the stars in the clear sky. You’re waiting. Suddenly, a bright ball of light comes tumbling through the sea of stars. Fire surrounds all of its sides as it glows brightly for just a second and quickly fades. This abrupt visit from a piece of space debris leaves you with wide eyes and a new appreciation for worlds beyond Earth. This is the moment Mr. Mattsen knew he wanted to pursue the field of science. 

As a child, Mr. Mattsen was always interested in all things science. When asked what sparked his interest in Earth Science, he confidently expressed his admiration for the wide variety of physical sciences it covers: “I like geology. I like astronomy, I like the weather, I like living things, but I didn’t want to focus on just one of those things. I appreciate how Earth Science includes and covers all of those sciences,” he said.

“People would say that I was very helpful and good with the kids,” he said. “The kids were very young so I found it to be pretty exhausting but after I got my degree, I said to myself ‘you know what, I think I could teach.’”

Mr. Mattsen was further inspired to teach by his freshman Earth Science teacher. “Mr. Fall made the material interesting and fun,” Mattsen recalled. “He had high expectations and treated his students well. He had a dry wit and would tell students ‘don't be a hockey puck’ or a ‘wing nut’.  He invited me and other students on small field trips when I was a junior and senior. On one trip the school bus didn't show up so he ran inside, grabbed his keys and about nine of us piled into his station wagon! That wouldn't be allowed today! I probably unknowingly modeled some of my teaching after him.”

With his love for Earth Science and a newfound interest in teaching, he earned his teaching degree while working for a home health care corporation before becoming an Earth Science teacher in Long Island. He then taught at Clarkstown South before he became Nyack’s full-time Earth Science teacher for 16 years. Mr. Mattsen also founded the astronomy club here at Nyack where students learn about the latest space news and have the opportunity to observe the night sky with professional telescopes. 

Mr. Mattsen’s favorite thing about teaching is “having an impact and making a difference in a student’s life and helping them see or understand something they didn’t before. Most of all, [he] loves when students have that ‘aha moment’ where the material clicks in their head and what’s best is when they can turn to a friend or another student and teach them what they just learned.” 

He added, “Earth science is such a big expanse of topics. I don't expect my students to find everything in it super interesting but I would hope that they can find one thing, that one thing, just for them that they can say ‘Oh wow, I didn't know that’, or want to find out more about something I taught in class so that 10-20 years later they can say ‘Oh yeah, I know what type of rock that is’, or ‘Hey, look at those stars - all the elements in the universe came from stars’; and most importantly, that they help to make good decisions on how we use the Earth's resources so we can continue to survive on this planet!” 

Mr. Mattsen’s advice for aspiring scientists is to spend time finding what you enjoy doing, and to go for it, to do something you’re passionate about rather than pursuing something else because it’s easy or convenient. Mr. Mattsen’s number one philosophy in life is that “things are going to be okay. You don’t need to get upset or angry about things because in the long run, everything is going to work out and everything is going to be okay. Do what’s right, do what’s best.”