Get To Know A Teacher: Mr. Hurton

In what will be a series of interviews, I had the pleasure of talking to History Teacher Mr. Neil Hurton.

Sam Minton: Why did you want to become a teacher, Mr. Hurton?

Neil Hurton: I wanted to become a teacher because I felt as though I had a talent to reach people, and help them understand how we can all become better people through learning, and it's always been a passion of mine, and was a passion of mine when I was younger, to be in the classroom, and help people learn as best they can.

SM: How long have you been teaching for?

NH: I have been teaching for 29 years.

SM: What do you love about Peabody High School?

NH: I think what I love about Peabody High School are the young people that I work with. The kids are great. I like to see them achieve, mature, and become positive young adults.

SM: Would you influence students who are interested to become teachers?

NH: I don’t think it's my place to influence anyone, but if someone has a desire to become a teacher I hope through role modeling what teaching really is that they would take from that and maybe it would help them make a decision based on who I am as a teacher.

SM: As a history teacher what is your favorite part, and maybe a reason you chose to become a history teacher?

NH: I think we all can learn from our past and hopefully become better people because of it. So I think those lessons are written in history, and I think that looking at that certainly makes us better people.

SM: Seeing that you have summers off, what is the thing you like to do the most in your offtime?

NH: In my offtime I enjoy travel, reading, and being with family and friends, but I always have some kind of a project going on or some type of involvement that takes up my time. So I don’t waste any time. I think that’s the important thing.

SM: Since you mentioned that you enjoyed traveling, what is your favorite place that you have been to?

NH: I love going to Europe. I think traveling through Europe is really like stepping into a history book, and the places that I have traveled to that are my favorites are probably Rome, and Venice Italy, Paris, France, and my all-time favorite is London. I love London.

SM: If you could give any tips to students what advice would you give them?

NH: As you move through your education don't procrastinate. That’s one of the lessons I learned, maybe later in life, that when we procrastinate we just make things tougher on ourselves. So if we learn to make a list, and (do the) work on those list then life becomes a little bit easier to deal with.

SM: You didn’t procrastinate on marrying your wife?*

NH: (laughs)

*Mr. Hurton married his now-wife at the age of 19