Throughout high school, there’s always at least one teacher who makes an inspiring change in your life. For us, that teacher was Mr. Karn.

Mr. Karn is a teacher here at Harrison High School. He teaches American History CP and Advanced, and has taught here at Harrison for 31 years out of his 32 years of teaching. The thing that got Mr. Karn into teaching was that he loved working with kids. No matter the subject, he wants to pass on knowledge to the incoming generations. Fun fact: his father was also a teacher, which got him further into teaching. 

He’s more interesting than people know him to be. He’s traveled to tons and tons of places, all across Europe. His favorites are the Czech Republic, Albania, and Macedonia. He says that once he retires, he’s going to continue traveling a lot more. 

Did you know that before Mr. Karn completed college, he was working temporarily as a bouncer? While working at that job, he wrestled a bear! He also did surveying for cruises. He graduated from Miami University in 1992 with a Bachelor’s degree in History, Political Science, and Geography. Along with a Masters of Arts in Teaching degree in Social Studies Education. 

Karn’s favorite thing about teaching is the kids–he loves working with kids. The thing he hates most about teaching is that everything is online, and that the profession is so tech heavy. He doesn’t have a favorite subject to teach: “It doesn’t matter — I just like working with kids,” he said. Mr. Karn says that one interesting thing the kids don’t know about him is how much he loves working with kids. “Some people think I am mean but I actually love working with kids,” he said. We asked if he wasn’t teaching history then what subject would you teach and his response was, “English, because I suck at math and science.”

Most importantly, he loves the school’s meatloaf. Anytime we have it, he will talk about it all day, and even after he eats it he will still talk about it. In his free time, he loves to travel and go to concerts. He would always come in the next day and tell us all about his time at the concerts. He enjoys playing cards with his friends as well. 

We asked students what their honest opinion of Mr. Karn was, and the results were overall very positive. Most of them said that he is very funny, which is most certainly true. One person said, “Thank you for making my freshman year of history awesome!” Another source said, “You are very funny. I had a good time in your class, you were very understanding, and you helped me out. I liked how you taught it was strict but good because we needed discipline like that. Thank you so much for a good sophomore year.” 

Many students love Mr. Karn’s teaching style, he’s strict but in a way that helps you accomplish what you need to do. “Thank you for teaching us the importance of studying!” one said. Mr. Karn was nice enough to let me come in and retake a test that I had bombed and I was so thankful. He also even gave me an extra day on my homework due to problems at home. I was so grateful because I needed that extra day. It really matters when teachers treat us like people with real lives and circumstances, not just kids trying to get out of work.

I had some missing work and asked him if I could turn it in during lunch, and he told me yes. I turned it in, and he gave me a polite smile. While I was walking out, he gave me a fist bump and told me that I was one of his favorites. I had a smile on my face that entire day. 

One time I had a spare CD of an Iron Maiden album of all their best hits, and I gave it to Mr. Karn. I didn’t think much of it, and I knew the CD would be put to better use. The next day when I walked into his class, he gave me a jelly donut, which just so happens to be my favorite kind of donut. It put a big smile on my face and lightened my mood for the rest of the day. I’ll never forget that day. 

People don’t know much about Mr. Karn but honestly, he is a great teacher. He loves to work with kids, and he is pretty funny. He is understanding, and if you really need the help he will help you out. Don’t judge him based on other kids saying his class is hard; get to know him first, and I am more than sure that he will be one of your favorite teachers too.