Christopher Frye
I am an AACPS: Alum, NCHS Class of 2012
There are innumerable movies and television shows (many of which are quite good) about the drudgery of high school. Unlike Ferris and his friends, I loved (almost) everything about my high school experience: the square pizza I ate nearly everyday, the desks a little too small for my six-foot frame, and even the one-ply toilet paper.
Above all else, the most memorable part of my high school experience was my teachers. Maryland’s best-kept secret is that the best teachers in the world are at North County High School.
One teacher for me stands out in particular. Mr. Dennis Sullivan, or “Sully,” taught my AP U.S. Government, STEM Policy, and AP Human Geography courses and was also my (one-time) lacrosse coach. Sullivan has many strengths as a teacher, but by far his best attribute is his ability to get students excited about politics. His teaching style is relaxed and filled with humor, and he gets students excited about each day’s lesson. In this class I gained not only an appreciation but a love of politics, and learned how policy can be used to change the world for the better. Despite what many underclassmen think, Sullivan’s classes are not “easy.” Never before (or since) have I had a teacher with such a personal interest in challenging me to understand and master the material. And I’ve never laughed so hard in a classroom.
In the six years since I’ve taken his class I have served as a Senate Page for the Maryland General Assembly, become an avid reader of Politico, and watched every single episode of The Daily Show, which was a prominent Sullivan teaching tool. This is perhaps his biggest influence of my life, as I am now an obsessive Daily Show viewer, and will be traveling to New York City in a few weeks to see the show in person. There are a lot of similarities between Jon Stewart and Dennis Sullivan. Both are exasperated defenders of “the little guy,” make people laugh, and are proven experts at getting millennials engaged in politics.
One day when I get elected to the Maryland General Assembly, I’ll be sure to send Sullivan a nice thank you on official state stationary. I’m sure he’ll still be at North County, still making kids laugh, still making them learn.
