In Bishop Manogue Catholic High School, we have a variety of math classes so that the students can have diversity according to what they want to learn or what they think would look best on a college resume, such as geometry, calculus (with AP levels at each), and college algebra to give you an insight into what you’re going to learn when you go out to college. But perhaps the most useful math class out of all of these is the class that ACTUALLY teaches you how to do your taxes. This class is financial algebra, which is dedicated to teaching the skill of how to manage money in the future. But this profile piece isn’t about the class. Rather, it’s about one of the new teachers at Manogue, who’s teaching this class currently, Mr. Michael McKemy, and what his journey to Manogue was like and what he feels about his first year at Manogue, as well as what he likes to do for fun outside of Manogue.
Mr. McKemy has been in Reno his whole life, growing up in the South side of the Biggest Little City. He graduated from Wooster High School and then went to UNR where he earned a degree in math and a minor in economics. After earning his degrees from UNR, he went to Sierra Nevada College in Tahoe to earn a degree in education to teach K-12th grade. After getting that degree, he started teaching middle school and then at Pine Middle School. After teaching there for 27 years, he decided that it was time to retire from teaching and left Pine.
After he left Pine, however, he still felt like he could still teach again. Then he recalled that Mrs. Lauren McBride, one of his old students that he kept in touch with, had asked him a couple times to come to Manogue, and since he finally had the opportunity to do so, he took her up on her offer and got an interview to be a teacher. And he was happy when he got the position, just to do something that he likes and get a little extra money for it too. “I was happy to have it,” said McKemy, “I’m retired from this and, you know, I get retirement, and then I got another job to work for, you know, a little bit longer and no, I was happy.”
Teaching a high school level class is a completely different experience for him, because despite earning his degree to teach K-12, he had only ever worked with elementary school and middle school classes. The only experience he’s had with high schoolers is coaching, which is a whole different ball game compared to teaching a classroom. But he see it as a good learning experience, and finds conversation with older students compared to the ones he’s had before to be more enjoyable. With these new experiences, he’s decided he’s going to do things differently next year and for the years to come. Overall his first year experience at Manogue has been a great one.
When Mr. McKemy isn’t teaching in the classroom and has spare time for himself, he chooses to spend as much time with his family as he can, either by travelling around the country or just chilling at home. He also has a daughter in Utah that he goes to visit when he can. He also spends time on the green, participating in competitive golf. And though he hasn’t been able to play in a while, he also has a great love for basketball, and even coached it for high school before he started working at Manogue. He also has a big passion for the Wolf Pack, which isn’t a big surprise seeing that he grew up here. If you go to his room in B104, you’ll see the jersey that he has hanging up above his desk, with the number 68. “It’s just actually a general jersey I got,” Mr. McKemy explained, “My brother played football for Nevada, and I couldn’t get his jersey, but I got 68 because it’s, uh, you know, UNR [was established in]1868.” Along with that jersey, he has a wide collection of jerseys from other colleges as well.
Mr. McKemy is a fantastic teacher that Manogue was really lucky to be able to get. He’s very patient with his students and tries his hardest to make sure the material is understandable to his students and is always available to help when they need help. Mr. McKemy looks forward to what his future at Bishop Manogue will be like.
