Q: What’s your name?
A: Brian O’Dowd

Q: What’s your position at Central?
A: I am in the Communication Arts Department, and I teach four sections of English 1 for freshmen and then one section of Honors English 2.

Q: What did you do before coming to Central?
A: Before coming to Central, I was a teacher at Kennedy Junior High for ten years as an eighth grade language arts teacher, and then I was a fifth grade teacher at Ranch View Elementary School for 12 years before that.

Q: What is your favorite thing about teaching?
A: My favorite part about teaching is talking with students. I really enjoy the process of hearing how they think and kind of pushing them to get stronger and better.

Q: What extracurricular activities do you participate in or hope to participate in at Central?
A: I volunteer for the girls swim team and the boys swim team, so I’m there one day a week. I’m hoping to do a little bit of work in some form at basketball games or football games, gymnastics, and wrestling – it could be the scoreboard, could be announcing, could be crowd control.

Q: What made you choose Central?
A: I graduated here in 1999, and I’ve also been a volunteer swim coach for the boys swim team since 2003, so I have a lot of ties to the school.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?
A: I really want to be a lifelong learner. I loved learning about elementary students, I loved learning about junior high students, and now I’m learning about high school students. My ultimate goal when I retire is hopefully teach at a college level and learn what those students are like as well.