By Samantha Ross
Welcome to Teacher Spotlight, where I interview different teachers from Elisabeth Irwin High School about themselves. This volume centers on math teacher Chris Vicevich.
Name: Chris Vicevich
Hometown: Simsbury, Connecticut
Where did you live before you moved back to Connecticut?: New York. The past couple years I lived up 125th and Broadway.
Where in Connecticut do you live now?: Hamden, Connecticut. Are you going to steal my identity? (laughs)
College major: Mathematics.
Why did you decide to become a teacher?: I sort of fell into it. When I went to grad school, for math, I started teaching some courses, because in order to get tuition remission and financial aid we had to teach. So I got some money for it, which was nice. I didn’t have to pay any tuition, which was also nice. But I had to teach a couple classes, and I didn’t know that when I signed up for the financial aid. I thought they would just give it to me, but no, they made me work. And then little by little I sort of found this was something I really liked, and then I ended up making the switch to teaching.
If you weren’t a teacher, what would you want to be?: I guess I’d like to make money if I wasn’t a teacher. Probably like an actuary or a quantitative analyst, probably something like that. Sometimes I feel like a flower shop owner, I feel like that would be a nice one. A superhero, obviously not realistically. But not one that goes around saving the day, just kinda one that has super powers and just chills out.
Any pets?: I have a dog, an English Springer Spaniel. She’s wonderful. But she stays with my dad and my sister because she has more room to run there.
Favorite food: I have two. Pizza, and the Tibetan momo.
Favorite movie: I really like The Matrix. I like things that sort of make us question our reality, and I liked Good Will Hunting a lot. It was math oriented, just sort of cool. There are a lot of mathematicians that have existed in the world like that, kind of under the radar brilliant. I really admire them, because they’re not necessarily seeking fame. I like that humility, that’s still being incredible. You don’t have to show off to be amazing, I really like that. I like that quality in people. Lost in Translation was a good movie, I really liked that.
Favorite T.V. show: The Office has to be one of them. Love that show. Very diverse. I like Doctor Who. I like Battlestar Galactica, the new one, except the ending of the series got weird. I like Adventure Time, that’s a great show, Futurama. I don’t know, I can’t pick a favorite because it depends what mood you’re in.
Favorite bands/musicians: I really like the now-sort-of dissolved group called Cadillac Sky. They were really cool. They played at a local concert one time, they were this Bluegrass band. They were actually really nice. Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, also Bluegrass and banjo style. That one is hard to say.
Favorite books: I mean, nobody’s going to care. They’re all like translations of Tibetan books. I guess Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism is a good one, that’s unique. Also, The Words of my Perfect Teacher.
Hobbies or pastimes: I play videogames a lot. I like videogames.
What’s your favorite video game?: Right now, probably Destiny. Because they…studied the psychology of casinos and applied it in the game. Now it’s weirdly addictive, which I like and don’t like about it. I’m sort of hating myself for liking it. Probably Knights of the Old Republic, which was an old RPG for xBox, and that one was really great. Probably my favorite game ever.