Greg Finn started his teaching career when he was a college student. He was a tutor for seven years and also a teacher’s assistant for three years. He also taught at a university after his studies for a year and a half, but this is his first year teaching at Jacksonville High School or any other high school. He first found out he wanted to be a teacher in college when he tutored some of his friends because he already knew the material from high school and found out he was a good teacher. Soon after this, he found out the university that he went to would pay him for tutoring other students, and he hopped on the opportunity, not only because he enjoyed it but because he needed some money being a poor college student.

The tutoring stuck with him to this day; he loves talking about physics. The best part of teaching he says is ”exposing a new class to something they’ve never seen before. It is incredibly frustrating but also very rewarding. When I see that light in the brain click on and the student finally gets it. That’s what I like the most.” Mr. Finn gets very excited about physics and very excited when it clicks for students.

He knew he wanted to go into science his 8th grade year when one of his teachers was talking about something he had never heard of before and he just was so into it. He went home and told his dad all about it, and to this day, he remembers every moment of that day; he knew it is something he really enjoyed and wanted to do. The thing he does not like about being a teacher is all the behind-the-scenes stuff that goes on like administrative forms, changing state and national standards, meetings, and deadlines, but he LOVES teaching.

When he is not teaching, Mr. Finn can be found either building computers, volunteering at the University of Illinois Springfield observatory, playing video games, watching Netflix, taking portrait photography, or making YouTube videos. Right now, he says there is not much to do, but during the summer, he will go to Boston to visit his best friend.