Chapter 47: Mr. Clark

Pleasant Valley has plenty of wonderful math teachers, and Craig Clark is no exception. Clark contributes to the math department by teaching honors geometry, algebra two, and precalculus.

Clark has been teaching for a total of 31 years, 29 of those years at Pleasant Valley and two other years at a school in central Iowa.

Clark received an education from the University of Iowa and knew that teaching was his calling back in his freshman year of high school. Clark stated, “I was taking algebra one and I had friends of mine that couldn’t figure out how to do some problems so I was helping them and I thought ‘oh you know I enjoy doing this, this would be a good thing forever.’”

When asked about his favorite memory, Clark had a hard time pinpointing just one memory as his favorite throughout the years. Clark said that he really just enjoys helping kids learn about math and that he loves his job because the kids keep him young. “I get older and older but a new crop of 16 year olds and 17 year olds come in here and I get to work with them and I enjoy that.”

Many students recognise Clark as a part of the Pleasant Valley family. Keagen McAuliffe, a senior at Pleasant Valley, stated, “Mr.Clark was always a teacher that understood and helped kids who needed help learning in his class. He always made class fun, and math was enjoyable to learn.” Even though Clark’s classroom is hidden at the very end of the math hallway, that doesn’t stop students from coming into his room for help during resource periods, or even just to visit.

When Clark isn’t in the classroom you can find him down at spartan stadium coaching the sophomore football team. Clark mentioned that he was also involved in many other sports and clubs during his teaching career at Pleasant Valley. Clark also enjoys going on bike rides with his wife when he’s not at the school he is an avid sports fan, “I pay attention to sports, no matter what is in season.”

Ruth Davidson, a senior at Pleasant Valley added, “Clark was always very willing to help me with any questions that I had, and articulated his ideas very well.” Clark goes above and beyond to ensure his students understand everything in class.

One word of advice that Clark would give to students at Pleasant Valley is to “take challenging classes and work hard while you’re a student then later you’ll have more options and you get a chance to get into a career you enjoy.”

Whether teaching math or managing football practice, Clark serves as an inspiration to his students.