By: Katherine Balbin
John Collins is our new edition to the Ram family at Port Chester High School. Although he has only been teaching a handful of years he is an exceptional History teacher.
Born and raised in Clifton Park, New York; Collins attended Shenendehowa East High School. Collins interest in teaching struck early on in his 8th grade history class. He said he had a phenomenal history teacher by the name of Mr. Serget. Collins said that “Mr. Serget instilled a deep passion for social studies and history for me.” He also mentions that the movie School of Rock was what inspired him to pursue teaching. Although Collins loves history, his favorite high school class was English. He enjoyed creative writing and philosophy.
After graduating from Shenendehowa, Collins pursued his dreams of becoming a teacher at SUNY Oneonta. Where he would graduate with a history major in 2018. Afterwards, he acquired his masters from Stony Brook University and graduated in 2021. Then, he began teaching after a few months.
Before Mr. Collins was a Ram, he was a Koala; his first two years teaching was at Ursuline High School in New Rochelle. Now at PCHS, Collins currently teaches 9th grade Global History and AP United States History for 11th grade. He is also involved with our Model UN club as an advisor. So far, he described his experience in PCHS as “dazzling.”
Outside of school, Collins enjoys reading, going on walks, enjoying films, and playing video games. He also loves music through his taste is all over the board; from Kendrick Lamar, to Taylor Swift all the way to Dave Mathews. Since he is kept indoors for the majority of the week, during the weekends he enjoys being outside rather than inside. He takes pleasure in hiking or simply checking out local farmers markets with his fiancée.
Mr. Collins plans to make his students enjoy his classes, like he enjoyed his 8th grade history class. Being history class, it sometimes gets uninteresting to some students but Collins tries immensely to make the lessons as entertaining as they can be. He hopes to make an impact in at least one student’s life, by either helping them by achieving an academic goal or just to simply make them feel safe and comfortable in his class. He is very genuine and the right man to reach out to if you’re struggling in general. When asked, “What is one piece of advice you would give to students?” He replied with, “Believe in yourself, and adopt a growth mindset. It doesn’t matter if Mr. Collins or anyone else believes in you because if you don’t believe in yourself then you’ll never be able to achieve your full potential. It’s so important that you’re kind to yourself. And, embrace the idea that you’re a lifelong learner. Growth and learning doesn’t stop after high school, or college. Embrace new ideas and keep an open mind.”
All in all, Mr. Collins is a very crucial member to this Ramily. Being only 1 of 2 teachers who teaches APUSH, It may be a lot of pressure but he is supported here and all of PCHS hopes he reaches his teaching goals. We are grateful to have him and hope to keep him as a life-long teacher at PCHS.