At Marco Island Academy, teachers come and go year by year, offering new teaching styles and philosophies to help shape students minds and mold them into sophisticated, young adults. One of these teachers is Mr. Bruce, teacher of regular and advanced English. Mr. Bruce provides MIA with his own unique and diverse talents that differ from teachers we’ve had in the past.

Mr. Bruce grew up in the suburbs outside of Dayton, Ohio, and went to Wright State University. Throughout high school and college, he worked at an amusement park called Kings Island as a restaurant manager, where he worked 80-90 hours a week. His workload became so heavy that he reduced his college enrollment to part time. Due to his employees at the amusement park typically being high school students, he was constantly teaching them the ropes and the lay of the land, reinforcing his true passion: teaching.

Though his management experience did help in his decision of becoming a teacher, the most influential aspect of his decision was teachers he had growing up. He always had a passion for writing, but also found it satisfying to be able to pass on his knowledge and wisdom onto others. Much like his teachers before him, he wanted to influence the younger crowd in as much of a positive way as possible.

“Teaching isn’t a job, it’s a lifestyle,” says Mr. Bruce, reciting his teaching philosophy. “It doesn’t matter where you are, you are always a teacher when you commit to being a teacher,” he continued. “It’s about helping people.” Possibly one of the most interesting aspects of Mr. Bruce’s diverse teaching career is that he traveled the world; teaching English to students in Japan. He says that, “some key differences between the USA and Japan are people in the USA want to stand out, while people in Japan want to blend in with the crowd (this is a generalization).”

Outside of Mr. Bruce’s work day, he edits his manuscript, conducts a podcast with his friend, and he brushes up on his Japanese and Korean studies. When conducting the interview with the Marco Island Academy administration, he said that they all really clicked. Their conversations flowed easily and felt natural, creating for an overall cohesive environment. “The teachers here have a lot more liberties than in other schools,” he said, giving the teachers more opportunities to be themselves and have more leeway in their teaching styles.

Though Mr. Bruce has not been here for long, he quickly has become an asset for our small school. He is one of three English teachers here, and teaches multiple variations of the subject. Though new teachers come and go each year, we hope that Mr. Bruce is one that stays, and continues to help improve MIA!