Photo Courtesy of Mr. Milne

Mr. Milne as senior in high school in Alaska.

A loud boom echoed around the classroom when Mr. Milne fell out of his chair and hit the ground. Silence. Then the class burst into laughter.

Mr. Milne has been a mathematics teacher at LHS for eleven years now. He’s had his fair share of embarrassing and comical teaching moments.

Senior Jimmy Zimolka thinks Milne is “a one of a kind teacher.”

“Milne is a fantastic math teacher who knows how to interact with his students and make them feel comfortable in his classroom,” Zimolka said. “He knows how to make math enjoyable which is hard to do.”

Milne is well-known for his sarcasm and jokes inside and outside the classroom.

“I have a problem with sarcasm sometimes,” Milne said. “Occasionally students and others haven’t been able to tell if I’m serious or not, so I’ve tried to work on that.”

Zimolka said Milne’s use of sarcasm is what really defines him as a teacher.

“It really makes class enjoyable and funny,” Zimolka said. “From what I’ve seen everyone just seems to love it.”

Senior Corey LaMalva said that conversations are easily generated in Milne’s classroom.

“I like that Milne isn’t afraid to voice his opinion because then everyone else’s personalities come out and it leads to funny debates,” LaMalva said.

Senior Hailey Gilbert said that Milne was one of her favorite teachers because he’s always there for his students academically and otherwise.

“He always has an open door for his students,” Gilbert said. “He makes learning easy because he’s always joking around so students want to pay attention.”

Gilbert is also a fan of Milne’s sarcasm.

“I think his sarcasm is the reason we’re so close,” Gilbert said. “I love how he mentions certain topics in his lectures and then brings the funny side of it with his sarcastic jokes. His personality keeps us involved in his lessons, and I feel very comfortable with him.”

Senior Elijah Ellis said he enjoys how Milne operates his classes.

“I think Milne has a great classroom presence,” Ellis said. “He has the best presentations which are clear and concise. He tries to make sure all of his students are caught up with the class material.”

Milne had a long journey to become the mathematics teacher that he is today.

Milne was born in Michigan and spent the first four years of his life there before moving to Anchorage, Alaska. The misconceptions people have about Alaska often frustrated him. According to Milne, “just because it’s off the general area of the country doesn’t mean the whole state is a different culture.”

Milne grew up with both of his parents, an older brother and a younger sister.  Both of his siblings still live in Alaska, and he hasn’t seen them in over five years.

“It was one of the most abrupt adaptations for I’ve ever made,” Milne said, “but I’ve grown accustomed to not being able to see them or hang out with them.”

Milne said he still wishes he could visit them more often.

“I greatly missed being an uncle to my sibling’s kids, and I’m disappointed that they haven’t been able to be a constant part of my daughter’s life,” Milne said. “I’d certainly value the opportunity to be more involved in their lives.”

However, Milne does see his parents more often. They bought a summer home in Litchfield, and he enjoys having them around.

Milne is also glad that his “daughter gets to have some real quality time with her grandparents.”

“We get to spend holidays together like Father’s Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day,” Milne said, “which would be lost if you don’t live near family.”

Although it was difficult for Milne to be away from his parents, they supported his decision to leave Alaska and continue his education at the University of Oregon.

“I completely appreciate how my parents supported me in every decision I made,” Milne said. “Even the ones that weren’t what they would have wanted, I’m sure they would’ve preferred that I stayed near them and the family. Yet they never once pressured me out of my decision to go to college in Oregon and to stay there after graduating.”

During his time at the University of Oregon, he knew that all those years there would be worthwhile to make his teaching job dream a reality.

Since Milne was a middle school student, he wanted to become a math teacher. In high school Milne said he was fortunate to have great math teachers who created great experiences with the subject.

“I had some friends who had math teachers that they didn’t like taking math from and I wanted to help them succeed with the subject,” Milne said.

However, before pursuing his dream of becoming a teacher, he worked in the insurance industry because of the recession and the few number of job openings.

Although Milne wasn’t able to immediately get his dream job of teaching, he was pleased with the insurance industry, and he thought that he would work in that field of study for his whole life.

Milne said that though he made some lifelong friends, the insurance job itself was just “bleh.”

Though he did not want to leave the “nice flow of income” that the insurance job provided, Milne was willing to sacrifice that to pursue his dream of becoming a teacher.

“It wasn’t until I had worked insurance for six years or so that I really felt the need to do something different and to consider pursuing teaching again,” Milne said.

The financial strain of switching careers made it difficult for Milne to achieve his dream, since it would cut his family’s income in half, and he’d have a high cost of tuition without the benefit of knowing when and where Milne would get a teaching job.

Despite Milne needing to work extremely hard financially and academically for his college degree, he was successful. As a result, he was able to obtain a teaching job here at LHS and create long-lasting memories for his students.

“Teaching is my favorite thing to do in the world,” Milne said. “There’s nothing I’d rather spend my time doing. One of the best decisions of my life was to drop insurance and become a teacher.”