Along with the main entrance, coffee bar, and principal, the school welcomed another new aspect to the year with the addition of a new math teacher.

The math and science department embraced the introduction of it’s newest member, Joseph Perkins, at the beginning of this school year. 

“I’ve always wanted to teach here so having my first full teaching job at Lake Zurich is awesome,” Perkins said.  “It’s a great area to be. I’m familiar with the general [location] since I lived around here so  it’s nice to come back to my home to work.”

Perkins started off as a student at Hersey High School before departing from Illinois to study teaching and mathematics at University of Iowa. According to Perkins, choosing math as his career, however, pre-dated college back to grade school.

“My parents were both accountants so math has always been a part of my life. I was never good at the social studies and english track. Math was [second nature] for me,” Perkins said. “And I was voted back in high school most likely to be a teacher. Putting the two together came naturally.”

According to Perkins, the blend of a social environment with a subject he loves was why teaching was the best option for him.

“Doing just math isn’t as appealing to me as teaching is,” Perkins said. “Teaching gives you the opportunity to meet awesome individuals. Interacting with a bunch of kids is fun and passing on your knowledge to younger people is a very good feeling.”

Prior to accepting his job at Lake Zurich, Perkins student taught around the Iowa City area near his college. Once he graduated, however, according to Perkins, he applied all over the Chicago-land area hoping to get a job in Illinois.

“I applied to plenty of different places and was lucky enough to get an interview here. So I went through some interviews,” Perkins said, “and this was my top stop that I wanted to get so once I got the call that I was hired, I just jumped on it.”

According to Perkins, Lake Zurich has so far been everything he anticipated to be. The whole community has been welcoming, Perkins said, and teachers have done their best to help him get accustomed to the new environment.

“The whole math department is full of people just trying to help me out,” Perkins said. “[For example], people like [Ms. Bryniczka] have taught me how to use the new technology here. Stuff like that makes getting up and going to work a lot easier.”

Perkins’ students are as excited to have him as he is to be here, according to one of his students Gabby Quintavalli, senior. His attitude and approach towards teaching, said Quintavalli, make him well prepped to deal with high schoolers.

“He seems like a very laid back guy which makes the classroom environment really fun,” Quintavalli said. “There’s a balance between being fun but also getting work done and I think he has that down.”

According to Perkins, he looks forward to the rest of his year furthering the relationships he has formed with students like Quintvalli.

“There’s a lot of school spirit here. Everyone is really proud to be an ‘LZ bear’,” Perkins said. “You don’t see that at every school so I think it’s special. I’m excited to be a part of a school like that.”