Mr. Flo is the newest physics teacher. The first thing I noticed about Mr. Flo was his passion for teaching. When I walked into his room for our email-scheduled interview, he was still helping students from his previous period. The first thing I noticed was his teaching style; it walked the fine line between explanation and guiding students towards the answer masterfully. He was helping students work through the reasoning as to why the physics problem could be solved in a certain way, going through trigonometric proofs and demonstrating the Pythagorean theorem, all in order to find the force of tension on an imaginary rope suspending an imaginary box. His love of physics is visibly obvious. 

In addtion, as someone with a real fear of early onset male pattern baldness, the second thing I noticed was his hair: fantastic, pristine, something to get up for in the morning. Its majesty really cannot be overstated. 

Mr. Flo knew he wanted to be a teacher even in high school and took the steps to accomplish that with haste. He was a participant in the South Carolina Teaching Fellows Program, which provides 200 scholarships annually to outstanding high school seniors looking to obtain a career in education at 11 South Carolina public universities.  He took full advantage of his academic opportunities and entered Coastal Carolina University with an Associate’s Degree at 18, completed his Bachelor’s by 20, and Master’s by 21. After graduating he taught at Trident Technical College before completing his fast-track to Magnet. His professional idols are Richard Feynman, Nobel Laureate and groundbreaking quantum theorist, and Bill Nye, the science guy.

In his free time Mr. Flo enjoys busting out the pen, paper, and twenty sided die for imaginative fun in Gary Gygax’s classic Dungeon and Dragons. He also likes to spend quality time with his wife and sometimes they even play video games together; his favorite is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Outside of fantasy games, Mr. Flo is an avid reader., particularly of the critically acclaimed Russian-American science fiction writer Isaac Asimov. His favorite movie is the 2014 adaptation of Stephen King’s Lucy starring Scarlet Johansson. He loves Stephen King’s books and movie adaptations,  the metaphorical and symbolic meaning, but not so much their scientific accuracy. Finding an interpretation that speaks to you is always a fun way to read literature compared to academic mandated analysis.

After my short time getting to know Mr. Flo, I can assure, with confidence, all those who had a traumatic experience in last year’s physics thunderdome that those horrors have been put to rest, our beloved darling baby raptors are in safe hands.