At Oakmont High School, English teacher Mr. Wallace is known for his book worm ways, as well as his segment on the Student Bulletin titled, “Words with Wallace.” However, many do not know what lifestyle Mr. Wallace lives beyond the desk.

What do you enjoy doing outside of your classes and why?

Mr. Wallace: “I really like to work on my property and home because I own two and a half acres. We got a giant garden but there’s always trees to work on and paths to build, and just general work on the property to keep it maintained. I like cycling and I enjoy cooking with my wife and daughters, we like making fancy meals. We like making a lot of ethnic foods and food from different countries and cultures.”

 If you did not major in English, what would your dream career be?

Mr. Wallace: “I think it would be really cool to be a travel writer, especially someone that travels to different countries and writes about traveling and things they have experienced that encourages other folks to go try those experiences. There’s a part of me that wants to be a tomato farmer, because I love growing tomatoes.”

Do you have any pets?

Mr. Wallace: “So we have only one pet left right now because for the past couple of years both of our corgi dogs passed away and one of our cats passed away, so we are down to one cat, her name is Zoey and she is nineteen years old. I also have eleven chickens.”

How was college for you?

Mr. Wallace: “I loved college. If  I could retire early and go back to college I would because I loved my professors. I was really lucky that the professors I had were very inspiring, interesting and really thoughtful. I loved being in an environment where people wanted to learn and enjoy talking about big ideas and discussing things that I found interesting. It was really stressful at times, around midterms when I had essays due and I had to read a million books.”

When you first started your job here at Oakmont High, did you expect it to be how it is now?

Mr. Wallace: “I didn’t know at the time how technology was going to take over in terms of personal technology. Computers were important back then but we were still teaching kids how to use computers, where now every kid has a computer in their pocket, via their phone. I had no idea how big of a role personal technology was going to take in terms of the phones and how much it was going to dominate kids lives. I had no idea how impactful social media would have on students and on our culture as a whole.”