Mr. Courchesne is a very interesting person. Being a very open-minded, humorous, and compassionate 10th and 11th grade English teacher, Mr. Courchesne is a person you wouldn’t be disappointed in working with.

Mr. Courchesne has made a very large impact on Holyoke High and The Herald publication. He spent the majority of his life living in Holyoke and was a very “mediocre” student at Holyoke High School. Graduating from Holyoke High, Mr. Courchesne then went on to Holyoke Community College where he became a Liberal Arts Major and graduated in 2012 with an Associates Degree in Psychology. After graduating from HCC, Mr. Courchense went to Westfield State to get his teaching license. He studied English and Education there.

He was a part of The Herald staff during his senior year. His Herald staff adviser was Melva J. Michaelian, who gave Mr. Courchesne the interest to join the Herald staff and become The Herald staff adviser for five years of his time teaching at HHS. During his time as Herald adviser, Mr. Courchesne created the Melva awards, a “mock-off” awards giveaway for The Herald staff that takes place every year. Now, in 2018, Mr. Courchesne has moved on from being The Herald staff adviser to teach a course called “Westfield Promise.” This course is intended for juniors who, upon completing the course, earn credits for both high school and college English.

In terms of being a teacher, Mr. Courchesne shares that there is “no type of good teacher. A teacher needs to be tough, but fair, try to have a sense of humor, but always be different.”

Mr. Courchesne’s last few years have been overall positive even though he has found his job tough at times. He commented that, when teaching, “there’s a million things going through your mind.” He has shared that there are many things a teacher can feel while teaching. Teaching is obviously something that shouldn’t be taken lightly and there are many things that can be challenging or put one on edge, but one thing everyone needs to know is that every teacher is human. Teachers are people just as much as students. Those are one of the many feelings a teacher should understand as well, that “students are people, and people are challenging.” It’s okay to feel indifferent about your job, especially when teaching, but just remember that every person is only human.