While he may be new to Radford High School, Charles Chong’s teaching career began almost two decades ago at Aliamanu Middle School.  Since then, his resume includes schools in Oregon and Arizona, and now, he’s returned to Hawaii to begin his first year as a Ram teaching English Language Arts.

In addition to teaching junior and senior English, he also referees and coaches basketball.

As head coach, he said, “This year I’m looking forward to coach the Lady Rams.”

Although Chong has a bachelor’s degree in journalism he said that he took a detour from that path to try teaching, since he enjoyed working with young people.

“I started teaching and never looked back,” he said. “My philosophy is that every student can learn, and that learning, like all things, has purpose within a larger scheme, full of purpose and meaning and truth.”

Outside of work, Chong enjoys “reading, writing, catching flicks, playing sports, doing art, going to the beach, and travelling with my wife. It’s all about getting out of the fishbowl.”

He is also working towards a master’s degree in education from Lewis and Clark College.

“I’m very much enjoying my time so far at RHS. The administration, my peers, and the student, have all been great to work with.  English is fun because we get to mess with language and have fun with similes and personification and such,” he said.

Faced with the daily challenges of being a classroom teacher, Chong brings a lighter perspective to work each day.

“We like watching each other sweat in class like melting popsicles, and the mosquitoes outside my room have also been quite hospitable. They welcome me each morning with a song and dance and often have me for lunch,” he said.