Mathieu Bergeron, a relatively new history teacher at Rice Memorial High School, has been teaching for four years. After attending Rice Memorial as a high schooler, he furthered his education at the University of Vermont and decided to return as a teacher at Rice to give back to the community that gave to him. His classes include: AP World History, Honors Contemporary History, Honors World Studies 10, and World Studies 10. 

What drew you to history in college?

“When I was a high school student, I was talking to a parent of one of my brother’s friends. He was a lawyer, so I was talking to him about what he majored in and what was interesting for him as an undergraduate student and he basically said it doesn’t really matter what you study as an undergraduate student. Do whatever you think you’re gonna get the best GPA in, and then it’ll open the door for so many other things. So, for me, that would be history and poli-sci and I had a really high GPA in those two subjects. Again, those are something that I wanted to learn more about, right, so I was eager to take those classes and learn and do the work.”

Why did you want to teach at Rice?

“Well, I went to Rice so that’s part of it. And it’s a great opportunity to give back to the school that gave me a lot and really inspired my love of history, and of all social studies for that matter.”

What was your favorite part of being a Rice student?

“I liked the fact that everyone within the grade–you know them very well. Not necessarily for other grades, but within your actual class there’s gonna be times in which you’re communicating with everyone and that’s definitely something that doesn’t happen in a bigger school, so there’s this element of community that is inherent in being in a little bit smaller school, but still big enough to, you know, not know everyone.”

Which is your favorite assignment to assign?

“In Honors Current Events the last couple years we’ve had a paper which is a really awesome paper. It’s looking at post-Soviet states and basically students have to compare life under the Soviet Union and life after the Soviet Union in these states…and they have to make an argument: is life better today? Or is life better under Soviet control? So I really like that paper and project.”

What is your favorite thing to do outside of school?

“Well I like coaching sports and then also I play on a men’s baseball team that’s pretty fun.”

How do you manage to keep a work-life balance?

“It seems like every year there’s not as much as I need to do. So that first year was crazy…putting in a ton of hours a week. Now I feel like it’s a lot more manageable because, you know, it’s not the same thing every year, but there’s a formula you’re putting in and you’re becoming more efficient, you know what to look for and you kinda finetune it and master it. So you do save time as the years increase”

What do you think is the most important aspect in preparing your students for success? 

“I think the most important aspect is definitely time management and organization. I think those two things are huge and those are skills that you can build here now where the stakes are pretty low, and if you have those skills, when you get to a more advanced level or career, you’re going to be able to succeed.” 

Do you have a favorite movie you recommend that is relevant to history?

“Rocky IV. Perfect Cold War Movie.”