This morning we sat down for an interview with high school history teacher Carl Corbett, who is starting his first year at WCS. This article is transcribed from the interview.
Where are you from? Why did you decide to move to Goldsboro?
I am from Newport, North Carolina and I moved to Goldsboro in 2016. I had joined the military and was stationed at Seymour Johnson. My wife got a job working at a water treatment company here in Goldsboro.
What inspired you to go to school to become a teacher?
Probably my mom. My mom was my eighth-grade math teacher, and she inspired me in a lot of ways. I got to see her throughout my formative years be a teacher and inspire kids, and I saw the life that it gave my mom. And so I think all of those years watching her do this thing that she was plainly called to do, inspired me to also pursue becoming a teacher. Now my thing is history.
Why did you choose to come to Wayne Christian?
I think that Biblical education is the only type of education. I think Wayne Christian chose me, that would be a better way to say it. Wayne Christian is where I wanted my daughter to go. Wayne Christian is where I see the work being done, the disciple being done. I’ve seen the fruits of Biblical education come from Wayne Christian. So when I was researching places in the area I wanted to pursue, I saw the resulting fruit of good discipleship and good education from Wayne Christian.
What sparked your interest in collecting pencils?
Who told you about the pencils? Well, I guess you knew that already, wow. During 2019, I think right when COVID hit, I was looking for the perfect pen, and I ended up falling into this rabbit hole of really nice stationery and writing material. And there was this community that had popped up that were trying to reinvigorate pencil use, because people don’t use pencils outside of school anymore. It’s always pens, you always see people with fountain pens. And this community had gone back and were trying to do a resurgence of appreciating just an old-school pencil. It’s a huge and somewhat strange community of pencil enthusiasts that I got swept up into. So now I’m in the middle of an international pencil club, write newsletters, I blog about them. It was a long and strange journey of the best writing instrument I could find.
Do you collect anything else alongside pencils?
I do. I collect historical ephemera [things intended for short use]. Letters, documents, books, I have books that are 250 years old. I’ve got letters from WW2. I have anything that maybe wasn’t intended to be kept and was forgotten.
What do you enjoy most about teaching?
When I was in high school, I really needed a teacher to not only encourage me and try to help me realize my potential, but to also spiritually guide me. So here, Wayne Christian, I feel like I’ve been put in a really wonderful situation where I can be both of those things for students. So I think my favorite thing about teaching is being able to connect and hopefully guide our students in the way that I also needed years ago.
Thank you to Mr. Corbett for allowing us to interview him.