By By KEVIN SCOTT CUTLER
Lifestyles & Features Editor
YEATESVILLE — A career in the Navy took Barry Boyd far from his Beaufort County home, but he’s happy to be back and teaching with Beaufort County Schools.
Boyd is in his first year at Northside High School, after teaching eighth grade for a year and a half at Northeast Elementary. He’s currently teaching foundations of algebra, pre-algebra and calculus.
After high-school graduation, Boyd attended Appalachian State University for a year before deciding to return closer to home; he enrolled at East Carolina University, majoring in physics and mathematics.
The decision to study those subjects was an easy one, Boyd said.
“When I was in middle school and high school, I loved science,” he recalled. “When I went to college, I wanted to be a physics major, and I learned you cannot do physics without math. So, I started taking math courses in college and really started to like math, too.”
While attending ECU, Boyd met and married the woman who would become his wife, Jackie. They have a son, Blane, and daughter-in-law, Tina. They are the proud grandparents of Clay and Colin.
Boyd loved the idea of teaching, but found himself lured by a military career.
“I enjoyed teaching, but I just felt like I wanted to experience other parts of life, and the Navy certainly gave me that opportunity,” Boyd said.
His 20-year Navy career and his subsequent job as a consultant in the defense industry took him away from the quiet life in Bath. At various times, he was deployed on a ship based in the Mediterranean Sea and lived and/or worked in Hawaii, California, Florida, Rhode Island and Virginia.
After 30 years of life spent from coast to coast, Boyd felt pulled to come back to Beaufort County. At the same time, he yearned to return to the classroom.
“I just enjoy the kids, the students,” Boyd said with a smile. “They’re full of energy and most of them have a positive attitude.”
He said one of the best parts of the job is seeing a student grasp the concept of mathematics.
“I enjoy when you see the light come on when you’ve been working with them on a difficult problem,” he said.
Boyd said the teachers he encountered along the way influenced his life, particularly Jack Wallace at Bath High School. Wallace also was the school’s football coach and basketball coach.
“He inspired me to have a strong work ethic,” Boyd said. “He expected leadership out of his athletes and his students, and that’s followed me through my careers.”
A teaching career doesn’t come without challenges, Boyd pointed out.
“The biggest challenge is trying to get all the tasks done in a day that need to be done,” he said. First and foremost is class preparations, actually preparing for class the next day. And classroom management is important, keeping the kids busy with something productive to do during the entire class period.”
Boyd said his time at Northeast Elementary School was eye-opening.
“I have a newfound respect for middle school teachers,” he said. “They’re working with students who are at that age between childhood and adolescence.”
Once he decided to leave his post-military career behind and return to the classroom, Boyd said, he found a couple of mentors already in place with Beaufort County Schools.
“The transition back into teaching has been made pleasant and rewarding by Charles Clark, principal at Northeast Elementary, and Donna Moore, principal at Northside,” he said.
What advice does Boyd offer to new teachers?
“Be prepared to have classroom management as more of a challenge than knowledge of the subject matter,” he said. “Some new teachers may not feel confident that they know the subject matter well enough to teach it, but they do.”