RJ Green teaches Earth and Space Science here at Hillcrest High School. He also teaches Chemistry.
Green grew up in Underwood, Iowa, and attended school there his early life. When he graduated from high school, he went to Iowa State University (IA) for both his undergraduate and graduate degrees. At IA, students had to do a virtual lesson as a part of their teaching program, which they contracted with Canyons School District to do. Green did the virtual program with a teacher in the old Hillcrest building.
When being asked why he moved here to Utah, his response was “I thought about it a little bit, looked at a map, realized I didn’t want to drive across Nebraska every time I wanted to snowboard, so I moved here in 2021.” And he doesn’t plan on leaving. Green likes to teach because, being a science teacher, things are always changing, science is always changing. Green says, “…We don’t know, and we’re uncovering more of that information every year.”
He also likes the fact that he gets to be a student while also being a teacher. When it comes to disliking anything about teaching, Green doesn’t say anything about the work or his coworkers, but the fact that his students face challenges that don’t come from school and isn’t a problem the school couldn’t fix. “Teaching at this school really opened my eyes to whateverybody needs, and me having to accept that there’s only so much I can do for people. And just, I wish I could do more.” Green said.
Green’s inspirations to continue to teach come from his students as well, he likes to see his students grow into themselves, to see them succeed as well as fail. He enjoys seeing his students triumph. Green also likes to know that he has an impact on people’s lives, even if that’s not what he’s looking to do.
Outside of school, Green likes to go snowboarding, which he got into just by thinking it looked cool. He’s been snowboarding since he was in the sixth grade, or about 28 years. Another thing Green enjoys is biking, he got into that because he grew up on an acreage, in Iowa there’s a lot of hills and he thought it was fun to ride his bike down the hills. Green has been biking longer than he’s been snowboarding, getting his first bike when he was 5 and, for a time, did all his commuting on a motorcycle.
“I really enjoy where I am and what I’m teaching.”