Currently Browsing: Student Life / Top Stories
Teacher in the Spotlight: Mr. Oakley
.
Written by Daniel Stafford
To sum up the rest of my article in a sentence, Mr. Oakley is a math teacher at Dobyns-Bennett, a worship leader, a football fan, and a fascinating man. But for more detail, I will explain exactly why he is a fascinating man. As Mrs. Hopkins, math teacher, puts it, “He is a fantastic colleague and has a great sense of humor.” Those of you who know him already surely are aware of his personality and panache, but there are those poor students who have not had the pleasure of meeting him; hence, this article.
Being one of those poor students, I set up an interview with this renaissance man of DB so that I may know more about him. He greeted me warmly, and we began. Right away I noticed he spoke to me as he would anyone. He was funny, kind, and to the point.
His name is Jonathan Oakley, and he was born in Nashville. He graduated from ETSU, but did not go to DB. The McGavock alumni now teaches Algebra I and is the sole instructor for Probability and Statistics. Yet, when I asked him what his favorite subject was, he said, “It would probably be English.” Shocking, yes, but he then said, “I like English, but I hated all the reading. You know, when we would have to read 500 pages of something you don’t care about.” When I asked him what he liked about English, he said that he enjoyed poetry the most.
He has been teaching at DB for eight years, and is now the worship leader at North Ridge Community Church in Johnson City. He told me the story from the beginning, where the service was held in a rented karate gym. “My kids used to call it ‘karate church,’” he laughed. After two months, he was able to rent a warehouse. He showed me a picture on his cell phone of the storage house before it was renovated. It… was quite unappealing. But he received incredible amounts of volunteer power, even that of a stonework company that redecorated the entire front wall for free.
The church is non-denominational and contemporary. “I remember the old people at my old church who would say, ‘why do they have drums?’” Oakley says. He and his wife now do the musical service. They both sing, and he plays guitar. “It’s so much fun just to get together and enjoy music and worship,” he says. He began work on the church in June of last year, and had the grand opening last month. North Ridge Community Church now boasts a congregation of 115, including four DB students.
Those that have met him know he is filled with energy and school spirit, and I can only imagine how he acts at football games. Speaking of which, he is an avid sports fan. “My favorite teams right now are the Jets in football and the Braves in baseball.” When I asked him whether he enjoyed football or baseball more, he thought and said, “It depends on the season.”
Oakley can be reached through email at jon.nrcc@gmail.com or joakley@k12k.com, and you can visit his church’s website at www.northridgejc.com. The church’s address is 209 E. Springbrook Dr. in Johnson City.
Email This Post
Print This Post
January 13th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
mr.oakley is a very exceptional teacher.
even when it was my freshman year. and scared to death, he made me feel right at home. he made time fly by, but he made it a lil to fast, if ya know what i mean.
Love ya coach.
Trey Lewis.
p.s.
I know everyone on the staff. and i like the newspaper. im now in journalism myself. but not as big as D-B. I miss home. But after i grad. i have to do my duty in the United States Navy.
Thank you.
[Reply]