Spanish teacher Chris Corcoran joined the World Languages Department this fall. He teaches Spanish 2 Honors and Spanish 3, and is excited to settle into the Nazareth community.

Corcoran is not new to teaching, having come from his alma mater Orland Junior High School where he taught for 5 years. He holds Orland Park very close to his heart. Reminiscing on his days as a middle school teacher, he said, “I did like teaching there…but I decided it was time to try to change from middle school. [Middle schoolers] can be a little squirrely, so I wanted to give high school a chance.”

Corcoran found the Spanish language very interesting and was already very familiar with it. For example, he worked in different environments which had co-workers that primarily spoke Spanish. He said, “I was working at a grocery store [where many people] spoke Spanish, and I was able to talk with them and thought that was so interesting and so cool that I kept pursuing it.”

When he was in high school, Corcoran did think about teaching, and when in college, he decided to give it a shot. Things changed once he started taking education classes. “It wasn’t really until I got to take those teaching classes. I was like, ‘Okay, yes, I made the right decision. This was for me,’” he said.

Corcoran finds the Nazareth Academy environment friendly and welcoming from the students, staff, and the faculty working with him. He said, “My favorite thing about Naz is just how friendly everyone is. I really do feel like I’ve been welcomed very kindly by students and staff alike.”

Outside of teaching, Corcoran loves to play video games with his friends in his free time. Popular games, such as Coral Island and League of Legends are some of his favorites. He also loves building Legos, and made an impressive functional globe and a real lighthouse out of the bricks.