By Jessica Demarest

Those are the first things that came to mind for Mr. Darlington when he was asked to describe himself in five words: determined, ambitious, devoted, humble, and caring. In reality though, these words are just the basics. They describe his character and his morals, but there are many more exciting things to learn about Galway’s new chemistry and physics teacher.

Mr. Darlington grew up in Delmar, NY and attended Bethlehem High School which is only about an hour away from Galway. Upstate NY, however, is not the extent of his travels. Mr. Darlington has taught on the west coast, and has driven across the continental United States a grand total of eight times. Suffice to say, he’s seen some pretty interesting places. Of these, Mr. Darlington has shared that his favorites include Antelope Canyon in Paige, Arizona, the Hoh Rainforest in Forks, Washington, and the Very Large Array(VLA) which is an astronomical radio observatory in Magdalena, New Mexico.

The 2011-2012 school year will be Mr. Darlington’s 5^th year as a teacher and he’s very happy to spend it and many more here at Galway. He chose Galway because he wanted to work in a small school with a community centered atmosphere. He says that all of the people here are very nice and that Galway has, in large part, been just what he expected it to be. Everything is positive and he enjoys the fact that everyone can rely on one another for support. On top of all that, Mr. Darlington has what he considers his dream schedule teaching chemistry and physics and he “couldn’t ask for a better situation” because it’s “been fantastic.” Mr. Darlington has always taught chemistry and physics, and was very enthusiastic about being able to teach both of those classes here at Galway. He states that he became interested in the world of science through Carl Sagan, the book Cosmos, and the movie Contact, which he first saw in theaters in 1996. Since then, Mr. Darlington has been a student teacher in Watsonville, CA, where he admits he suffered his most embarrassing moment as a teacher. He was a giving a demonstration to his class by swinging a bucket full of water around in circles to show that the water would stay in the bucket. The demonstration worked and all seemed to be going well. That is, until he attempted to jump on top of a lab table and caught his foot whilst doing so, landing him sprawled across the table. To top it all off, it was his first day teaching the kids in the class. Despite this not so pleasant experience, Mr. Darlington still enjoys teaching and says that in ten years he sees himself still teaching here at Galway. He also hopes to have started some really fun science programs within our school by then. In his opinion, the hardest thing about teaching is definitely the paperwork, and the easiest is being able to work with the students. He says that seeing them learn motivates him to work hard.

What are some other interesting facts about Mr. Darlington? His favorite color is black and his favorite type of ice cream is chocolate, particularly dark chocolate. He enjoys photography and he is a track coach at Union College. Mr. Darlington says that if he had the day off today, he would probably be lifting weights and working outside. The book Cosmos was not only a factor in getting him interested in science, but it remains his favorite book to this day. His role models include his parents and Mr. Preston Boomer, who was a teacher in California who taught him a lot. For those of you currently taking one of Mr. Darlington’s classes, it is interesting to note that Mr. Boomer is where ‘Big Chem’, ‘Mighty Physics’, and the Natural Philosophers website came from. In addition, Mr. Darlington does not and does not wish to ever own a pet, and most importantly, is a recycler. In closing, Mr. Darlington informed us that if kids graduate from Galway High School without having taken chemistry and physics, they will have made a huge mistake. So make sure you include those classes when creating next year’s schedule!