Mr. Walsh is leaving MVHS

Ethan Walsh is leaving to do an administrative internship in Jordan. Mr. Walsh has been one of our beloved English teachers for around 3 years. He teaches Journalism, British Literature, and English 10 at Mountain View High School.

Believe it or not, he didn’t always want to become a teacher. He wanted to become a chef, he even took culinary for a couple of years in high school but after working at a restaurant he decided that it wasn’t for him. He decided to become a teacher after seeing a pattern in the jobs he was thinking about taking. So he decided to teach English. He chose English because he loved literature and stories.

“…it was seeing the spark in someone’s eyes when they understood something,” Mr. Walsh said. “That’s always been my goal and my excitement that comes with teaching is helping people understand something and I’ve enjoyed that with tutoring and things, not just with English.”

Fun fact about Mr. Walsh, he apparently failed every spelling test he ever took and failed the state writing test as well. “I always say that just because you aren’t good at something doesn’t mean you can’t be,” Mr. Walsh said. He was never automatically good at something, no one is but he got better over time. “My writing got so good that my critical theory professor in college wanted me to get on and get paid for a PhD but I didn’t want to sit around writing papers only a bunch of old stuffy guys were ever gonna read so I preferred to be in a classroom instead.”

The reason Mr. Walsh is leaving because he’s going into administration. He’ll be an intern in Jordan. He’d been debating becoming one for around a year. While he still loves teaching, he felt like there was something else he needed to do. A lot of people had told him that he should go into an administrative role due to his leadership skills. What solidified the decision to him was when he participated in an aspiring principals program the district was doing with BYU last year.

“I had already decided at that point because I’m not someone who just does things halfway,” Mr. Walsh said. “Like if I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna do it.”

He said he has had a lot of fun teaching at MVHS over the years. And while it was a lot of work it was still fun and he enjoyed it.

Mr. Walsh said that he’ll miss it here due to the atmosphere and I can’t blame him. “Mountain View is so rightfully known for its compassion and unity,” Mr. Walsh said. “Everybody here is open and respectful; they’re nice, and they try, and I think that’s been really nice, and I think that art and the culture of Mountain View is what I’ll miss.”

“14 years ago I decided to become an English teacher so I can teach things like “Frankenstein” and “Cyrano de Bergerac.” And we’re reading “Frankenstein” and this morning my other class started “Cyrano de Bergerac,” Mr. Walsh said.

A good handful of your students will miss you and will await your return. And juniors who will become seniors next year and possibly never see you again will remember you. Enjoy your administrative internship M. Walsh, there will always be a place for you at MVHS.