by Nicole Tieu
staff writer
Photo by Kristie Hoang
Mark Orme sat down at his familiar lab table wearing his usual button downed collared shirt and blue jeans. He has spent the last ten years at Fountain Valley doing what he does best: teaching chemistry. To many, he seems intimidating with his tall stature, but his goal as a teacher is to show students that they can be successful in chemistry and to help them achieve their own goals.
Orme attended high school in San Fernando Valley (“like y’know”) and would never have thought that he would become a teacher. When he graduated, he wanted to become a doctor, but decided against it after experience volunteering. After originally majoring in agriculture at Cal Poly Pomona, he discovered a love for chemistry and transferred to UCI.
“I thought [chemistry] was interesting; it was like interesting puzzles. I thought it was interesting learning about how things work or why water condenses… things like that,” Orme said.
Orme went into market development, combining chemistry and business. This allowed him to develop his love of traveling as he visited cities in almost every state, Europe, and Australia. After being given the opportunity to volunteer with a youth group, he came to realize that he enjoyed working with students.
“I guess after a number of years of working in the industry and a number of promotions, I guess I kind of thought there was something more,” Orme stated. “So I started volunteering with the youth group and that worked out pretty well so I thought ‘well, I’ll go into teaching.’“
Orme went back to CSULB to receive his teaching credential and has been teaching for 16 years. He is no stranger to several fields of science, previously teaching physics, life science, Earth science, and physical science. Now, he teaches what he likes best: chemistry. His teaching style features getting the students to actively participate as much as possible, seen through his constant use of partner sharing.
Photo by Kristie Hoang
Orme finds his greatest inspiration in Theodore Roosevelt because of Roosevelt’s large variety of careers and knowledge of different fields. Outside of school, he spends time with his two sons, Marky and Johnny, bike-riding, hiking, and traveling.
Something unexpected that students may learn in Orme’s class is rodeo terminology. In the past, he often used to ride challenging horses and still goes to rodeos with his sons now. He uses it as a distraction to rest the brain.
“I think every class needs a little bit of a distraction, you can’t just do just one hour of something…I know it’s not a real big thing here, but it’s always fun to say ‘What? You’ve never been to a rodeo?’” said Orme.
