As many students know, Mr. Campbell, a chemistry teacher, has been with us for 7 years. But did you know he was bilingual? Mr. Campbell has had a great impact on the students he has taught and always manages to keep his humor through this tough time.

Before becoming a Chemistry teacher here at Bishop Manogue, Bruce Campbell started off as a kid mowing lawns as a groundskeeper. He also worked at a gas station attendant for a $1.50 an hour, and a telephone operator, where he earned extra due to his ability to speak Spanish. ”I worked construction in the summers, because when you teach in school you have summers off, so I always worked another job. I worked in labs, which is kinda boring, just gathering data. I was a lifeguard and a ski instructor in Tahoe, so I did a whole bunch. I worked in a steel mill as a machinist once upon a time too.”

He grew up in the middle of nowhere, in a small town with one high school and one elementary school, so he had to create his own entertainment. He only had 3 television stations, no cellphones, no computers, but he did do a lot of bike riding, motorcycle riding, and horse-back riding. He worked on ranches when he grew up, and hunted, fished, and enjoyed all the outdoors had to offer.

He had a best friend named Bob Carter, and together they would fish and ride bikes from morning until dark. “For college I went to San Luis Obispo Cal Poly which was 7 hours away from where I grew up, a completely different environment, on the beach halfway between in San Francisco and Santa Barbara.”

Out of all those jobs he’s had in his life, Mr. Campbell liked construction the most, because “at the end of the day you can look and say ‘that’s what we did today.’ When you teach school you don’t really know if they [students] got it or not, so it’s not as measurable and tangible as, you know, actually putting something together, so I like the physical construction stuff.”

This is Mr. Campbell’s seventh year at Manogue, and before that he was training science teachers at UNR and Sierra Nevada College. He’s really grateful for his opportunity here, and he enjoys how being a teacher can guide whatever he wants to do. If you’re looking to become a Chemistry teacher, he has some important advice: “I guess first and foremost you need to know your material, cause if you’re talking to an audience, kids are just as smart as you are, if they see you struggle sometimes that can create visible lack of confidence. All you need is knowledge of your subject matter and then just to be yourself.”

Mr. Campbell added, “Manogue’s fun. I love the people I work with. We have a great department. The kids are great. I like talking to all you guys just cause you come from all these different backgrounds.”