New Math Teacher, Richard Hollinger

Leo Feng, Political and News Editor

Richard, or Rich, Hollinger is a new math teacher at our school. Fresh after receiving his teaching degree at Cal State Fullerton, this is Mr. Hollinger’s first job as a full time teacher. Throughout the year, Mr. Hollinger hopes to help his students find their passion and excel in the field of mathematics. “I’m an understandable guy. I think I relate to the students very well. I know students don’t like to fail. I know they want to succeed. That’s why I want to help as many students as possible,” Hollinger said. 

As a teenager, Mr. Hollinger went to high school at Temple City where he excelled at both math and basketball. His skill in basketball eventually led him to have a short stint as a basketball coach, coaching the Temple City basketball team before leaving for college. There, at college, Mr. Hollinger majored in Mathematics and ended up receiving his BA degree. Mr. Hollinger also acted as a teacher’s assistant for Cal State Fullerton’s business calculus class. 

Mr. Hollinger first found a passion for teaching at a young age via his father, another teacher. While he originally didn’t know what he wanted to teach, he found his calling after a meeting with his counselor. “Originally, I didn’t know what I wanted to teach. I just knew I wanted to be a teacher so my counselor asked me if I wanted to be a history teacher. But that meant that I had to write a ton of research papers so I said no. Then, my counselor asked me if I wanted to teach kinesiology or physical education but I didn’t like running so I said no again. We finally settled on math because I had pretty good math grades as a student,” Hollinger said. 

Currently, Mr. Hollinger teaches four geometry classes and one algebra class, with his free period during second period. So far, he has found the school atmosphere incredibly welcoming, citing the friendly staff and students as being extremely helpful. “The students so far have been great,” Hollinger said. “They always try their hardest in class and they are all very bright kids. They are always energetic and you can see their effort in class. It’s a dream come true for any teacher.” Outside of school, Hollinger enjoys playing basketball and surfing.