Kevin Meegan, alternatively known as the “Good Morning” guy, was recently voted Teacher of The Year at East. How did he get these votes? Whether you’ve caught him saying “Good Morning” at the start of the day or “Good Afternoon” at the end, he always shares a cheery smile and a wave.
His joy for teaching at East shares a common root with his dedication for putting himself in nature. Since high school, Meegan has engaged in activities like bug pinning and catching, bird watching, and living his life to the fullest while surrounded by what he loves. In college, he continued his love for the outdoors by studying ornithology (the study of birds), plant morphology (structure and appearance), and ecology (the study of living things and their environment). He became a biomedical engineer after finishing college and reached for the stars by accomplishing his dreams of climbing the New York Moutains.
Meegan felt that after his achivement it “definitely just felt like a completion. I think a lot of the things that I have accomplished for some other reason don’t seem that grand, so the mountains were something that I could finish and to be in the same group of people who have accomplished that task was very meaningful.”
Due to scaffolding accident from his days ofbeing an electrician during college, having this accomplishment is meaningful to his motivations and lifestyle. “[My injury] changed the trajectory of my life,” Meegan said. “I wasn’t even sure if I was gonna be able to walk.”
After his injury occurred, his motto when it comes to his motivation for being fun-loving and as laid-back as he can be, continues to be plain and simple: “Life, you know, life.”
One of Meegan’s favorite motivational quotes is by David Goggins, a speaker and author: “You don’t stop when you’re tired, you stop
when you’re done.”
“When I stay after school, [my students] will be like, why don’t you go home?” Meegan said. This conveys the commitment Meegan works hard to have so he can give his students and himself an easier and better experience for the future.
During Meegan’s time of being injured, one of Meegan’s friends, a PE teacher, suggested applying for a job to be a teacher, to which he replied
“You know what, teaching is a job that I can do if I can’t walk,” he replied. As he started the next phase of his life, he brought along his morals. Being a teacher allows Meegan to put himself in his students’ shoes to fully understand what they are like. “It starts kind of individualistic. I try to bring [my teaching style] all in as a whole, so it’s very much dealing with each child as an individual. This is so I can kind of see who they are, how they respond, and how they act. Therefore it then allows me to kind of make [my classroom] more cohesive,” Meegan said.
This is partially why students agree his title as Teacher of The Year is well deserved.
His students wrote him a letter acknowledging “[We admire]The way you’re able to create a bond with each and every student…” This shines a light on how Meegan keeps a good environment in his class and at East as a whole. The students’ opinion on Meegan’s work ethic and way of bringing his class to life is simple and “…honestly impressive.”
Meegan, being as humble as he is kind, has his own opinion on why he thinks he is teacher of the year. “I guess it’s just because I go around and I’m positive and I help a lot of people,” he said. Meegan gives his all in everything he does: his teaching style, his hobbies, his social life and much more. As Meegan tends to his necessity for helping others, while helping himself in the process, he still whips up a smile to greet everyone at East with a “Good morning!”
