Tom McGowan, who taught Advanced Placement (AP) Geometry to 10th graders at North Andover High School (and years later went on to teach at nearby Brooks School), just wrote to say:
Just thought that I would let you know that after 47 years of working with students, I have decided to take more time to myself. Tomorrow is my last day at Brooks, and this has been a wonderful experience, both personally and professionally. I have coached our math team the past two years, and we came in 5th our of 189 schools, and this is a testament to the type of students we have. A lot like yourself, mathematically talented and highly motivated.
I hope that life is good for you, and would love to again hear about your comings and goings.
In 10th grade I was in so-called Level 1 math, which was a notch below Mr. McGowan’s AP class. My friends insisted I didn’t belong there, and should be in Mr. McGowan’s class. Until midway through sophomore year I was too lazy to have cared one way or the other. But one day he marched into my class, explained that he understood a Mr. Woods was in it, and that he’d be taking me up a level. And that was that.
But man, he was a taskmaster. He would have died before using the “test bank” that came with the textbook. He went through various math league sources to come up with challenging problems for our tests.
At first, I didn’t do well at all. I was outraged. I had a natural right to an A. He was being unreasonable, I insisted. The tests were too hard. He didn’t care. Study harder, he said.
So I did. I worked like crazy. I wound up mastering the material and the tests. I joined the math team, which he coached, and became co-captain in my junior and senior years. Those two years our team went to the state championship, and senior year we made it to the New England championship. I was chosen for the Eastern Massachusetts All-Star Team (yes, there is such a thing) two years in a row, and competed in the national competition at Penn State.
I attribute this in very large part to the work and character of Mr. McGowan, who wasn’t the time-serving drone who can’t wait to get to the golf course but a man who loved his work and insisted on the highest standards of any teacher I ever had. Thank you!
