Students crowd around the desk, each shouting and clamoring to get the teacher’s attention. All waiting to be dismissed by the second bell. In the middle of it all is Mr. Bishop. When the 2:48 bell rings, the horde of students leave. As everyone makes their way to the door, my attention is directed to the whiteboard while I wait to begin my interview with Mr. Bishop. What’s on it? Four words. “What would Bishop do?” Apparently, this is the name of a cult started by fans of Bishop. In short, it’s proof of his growing popularity after only two years at Oak Hills High School. I would like to make the disclaimer, however, that Mr. Bishop is not actually running a cult; if that was the case this would be on a bigger news site than The Tartan.
Before teaching, Mr. Bishop attended Oak Hills High School. In fact, during his time as a student at Oak Hills, Bishop was a member of the Tartan Staff. Bishop had always wanted to be an English teacher; after high school, he went to the University of Cincinnati to get his bachelors in English. Then following college Bishop pursued another line of work, but wanted to “do something that [he] loves” and went back to school to get a master’s degree in secondary education. Many Bridgetown students, myself included, remember Bishop from his time as the school substitute, and in 2023 he got a job at Oak Hills High School.
I had learned from a student of his that Bishop has a “burning hatred for freshmen.”Upon being asked if this was true, he claimed that he “genuinely loves teaching freshmen.” And he especially loves seeing those that he knew from his time at Bridgetown at “this new stage in their life”. These freshmen are also responsible for the WWBD cult, created in Bishop’s honor.
Bishop does, however, detest the printer that is in his classroom. He claims that it does more harm than good: “The only joy it brings me is when I get to turn it off”. He is so passionate about this topic, in fact, that he “could rant about it for hours”. Moreover, Bishop scorns his new classroom, because of the heat. In terms of “making it his own”, Bishop does favor his current classroom to his previous.
As one would expect from an English teacher, Bishop enjoys reading, writing, and collecting books. He also has a strong passion for “typewriters”. Because of this hobby, he believes that when all the world’s electricity runs out he will be elected president, due to his prowess with collecting and fixing typewriters. When I first asked about his hobbies, Bishop directed me to his desk which he had built himself. Seeing as “every teacher needs a desk”, his woodworking hobby has already proved to be beneficial. Let the records show that I was “speechless because of how beautiful that desk [was]”.
Last year during my first interview with the teacher, Bishop shared with me that he “is where [he’s] supposed to be”. When I asked a similar question this year he shared that “as lucky as we are to be at a district like Oak Hills … [teaching is] still a challenge” and “you gotta like what you do”. Bishop feels that Oak Hills and teaching is right for him. Additionally, he sings praises for the teachers of the English department that have helped him over these two years. But, he does feel bullied by their misuse of the aforementioned printer.
In conclusion, Mr. Bishop is many things. A typewriter virtuoso. A cult leader. A woodworker. Future post-apocalyptic president. But above all, Mr. Bishop is a passionate English teacher that cares about his work and students, and Oak Hills High School is lucky to have him.
