Established in 1893, FUHS has seen its fair amount of teachers. The following teachers, having taught at FUHS for more than 20 years, have made an extraordinary mark on our campus.

IB Coordinator Mark Henderson, teacher of IB History of the Americas and IB Theory of Knowledge, has been teaching at FUHS for thirty-one years.

Reflecting on his time spent here, Henderson remembers how he felt during his first few years of teaching.

“I don’t remember a lot of specifics but I do remember how nervous I was and how happy I was to be a teacher,” Henderson said. “I was looking forward to having an impact–some type of impact–on my students.”

Henderson has seen first-hand the evolution of the school. “So much is different, and it was easier to get into four year colleges back then. We didn’t have computers, we didn’t have a copy machine. When I started I don’t believe we had phones in our classrooms, and after a few years I remember getting an intercom in my room,” Henderson said.

“Students today go off campus more than I remember. Pomona was designated as a smoking area, and students could smoke cigarettes out there at break and lunch.”

But the students are not the only one transforming through their years here at FUHS. Henderson believes that he has grown into an educator who is able to adapt to the needs of his students.

“I hope I have grown a lot, I don’t get as nervous on the first day of school anymore.  I hope I adapt to student needs more, I hope my lessons have matured and I hope I never stop trying to be a better teacher.” said Henderson.

For Christine Irwin, although being a teacher for twenty-one years, she still can remember how she felt on her first day here at FUHS.

“I felt really nervous and excited . . . back in the day, teachers could get hired before they did their student teaching –I got paid to student teach,” said Irwin. “I almost quit that first year but the administration was very supportive and gave me time off to go to other schools and observe teachers who taught my subjects since I was the only one who taught my classes at Fullerton.”

Being a teenager at heart, Irwin says she loves being surrounded by teenagers and teaching them about the sciences, especially Earth science.

“The staff at Fullerton is pretty consistent and many of us have been working together for a while,” said Irwin. “The students are basically the same. As with anything, some years are better than others.” 

Like Henderson, Irwin has also experienced the changes in school culture over the years. Irwin believes the school now is more serious about education, compared to the laid-back campus she had experienced in previous years.

“I started just before the state testing and the big push for all students to go to college and the whole ‘A-G thing’ so we were free to experiment, explore cool ideas in teaching,” said Irwin. “It seems like now we are micro-managed from the state, down to the administration on how ‘teaching’ should be.”

As a teacher of twenty plus years, Irwin believes it gets easier to help students and understand their needs.

“As a veteran teacher it is easier to understand, identify, and work with students who have special needs or extra help,” said Irwin. “It takes years to be a good teacher and after 21 years, I’m still learning. I am more confident now that I have a bag of tricks!”