Robinson’s newest addition to the math department is Jack Harney. While Harney may be new to Robinson, he is not new to teaching. Harney has been teaching for five years, but just recently started teaching in Florida. Before coming to Robinson, Harney taught high school math in Columbus, Georgia.

Currently teaching Pre-IB Geometry and Pre-Calculus along with traditional geometry, Harney is excited to get to know all of his students.

“I have pretty smart kids… who ask questions and they understand what’s going on which is very fun, so I’m excited to talk about math [with them],” Harney said.

Although he loves both math and teaching, he also has many interests outside of school. In his free time, Harney enjoys playing the piano and watching movies. Harney has been mastering piano for almost eight years and while he enjoys all movies, Kung Fu movies like “Hit Man” have to be his favorite.

Harney is very passionate about being a teacher. His ability to help students gives him a sense of fulfillment and achievement that only a helpful profession could. Although he never had any “life-changing” teachers, Harney had some good ones who helped him realize how important and helpful teachers are.

“[I am passionate about being a teacher] because I think it’s a helpful thing,” Harney said. “I feel like I’m doing something good-ish for the world, enough so that I can feel good about myself.”

His students seem to recognize and appreciate his passion for teaching.

“I do [think Harney is a good teacher] in some ways, personally I feel like he is very smart but it seems like he has trouble putting that thought into like simple terms so that the students can understand. [However,] he is [very] nice,” Reese Pierson (’25) said.

“I like his personality. He is sweet and kind,” Allyson Steele (’25) said. “I also like his determination to teach us the material that we need to know.”

For his year-long teaching goals, Harney hopes that he will be able to teach all of his students to think things through and try to work problems out.

“[The most important thing that I hope that students will take away from my class is] that they can think clearly, they don’t just have to guess stuff. They can actually figure things out if they’re careful about how they think,” Harney stated.