The first year of teaching can be challenging for some, but for biology teacher Chris Ham it’s been a smooth entry into education.

“First teaching at Liberty is so far so good. All of the students and teachers are great and I had a good experiment so far,” Ham said. “Nothing terrible has happened, so for the most part, everything’s going good.”

Working as a teacher’s assistant in college for several years inspired Ham to become an educator.

“I took a job as a teaching assistant at college,” Ham said. “I was a TA and then I did that for 2 and a half years and then I fell in love with it and I just kept doing it and now I’m here.”

Ham has taught many different science subjects, but biology holds a special spot in his heart.

“First of all, I love all types of sciences. I taught physics when I was a TA, so I have a few spot for physics and I did teach chemistry when I was a college assistant,” Ham said. “I do like all three sciences, but I like biology because there’s so much information that we don’t know yet, that’s a lot different from chemistry and physics that we teach, but it’s just that the options are wider and that’s why I like it so much.”

Ham may not be experienced, but his students feel like he will get there soon.

“Mr. Ham is a really good biology teacher, but I feel like some people just don’t take him seriously because it’s his first year teaching,” freshman Vin Kantheti said. “Since it’s his first time teaching, it’s just going to take him some time to get used to it like teaching here, but there’s not much of a difference in him compared to the teachers that taught for several years.”

Although Ham hasn’t been teaching for long, he has a quality that many students already appreciate.

“I think he is a good teacher and he is always very good at making sure that we understand everything,” freshman Melody Tavallaee said. “And he is good at giving us practice because he gives us a lot of worksheets to make sure we fully get a subject.”