Kevin McCormick, a Modern World History teacher, has been teaching at WHHS for 20 years and has aimed to build pleasant relationships with his students. 

“The idea of trying to teach to people that I don’t know, personally, would feel awkward,” McCormick said. “It’s much easier for me to look forward to coming into work and knowing the people in front of me.”

McCormick’s room is decorated with various different art pieces, which he gives away to students if they win trivia challenges. In this way, he aims to increase his student’s interest in history.

“At one point, I had this idea that by giving away an artifact or a piece of history in some way… that would create greater curiosity amongst students in art and artifacts around them,” McCormick said.

McCormick advises the Film Club, which Sophie Glenn, ’24, is co-president of. Glenn had McCormick as a teacher during COVID, so she met him online. 

“I participated a lot in class, and history has been [one of] my favorite subjects, so I suppose we just had a banter about history and he’s really into music, [and] I’m really into music, so stuff like that started [our friendship],” Glenn said.

Glenn enjoys visiting McCormick’s room because of the relaxed atmosphere, with ambient lighting and comfy chairs.

Glenn and McCormick take a minute to catch up on each other’s lives after film club meetings after school on Fridays. Glenn enjoys seeing a familiar face in the hallways and believes that student-staff relationships are beneficial.

“It’s much easier to go through your day realizing that [the staff are] not out to get you,” Glenn said. “It’s sort of like a symbiotic relationship, so if you try to treat them like a person, then it’ll be easier to understand and see how they treat you.”