Mr. McCoy works to create a strong bond with every student that enters his classroom. He was given the honor of being one of the speakers at the Class of 2023’s graduation ceremony Friday. 

“It was really an honor to be selected. I haven’t been here long, so it feels very nice for the students to have voted for me,” he said. 

The message to the speech he wrote is unknown to the audience and hopes to keep it as a surprise. 

“I have written the speech and submitted it. As far as the main message, you’ll have to wait and see,” he said.

He is hoping that the students takes something out of what he says through out the speech and it impacts them. 

“I am hoping the students do listen to and take to heart the things that I say in the speech,” Mr. McCoy said. “Realistically, I hope I just don’t put everyone to sleep. Making strong connections with the student body has been something that I’ve tried to do throughout my career as a teacher. 

“I was told a long time ago that if you build positive relationships, the rest falls into place. Luckily, that message is strongly supported by our administrators at Merrillville.” 

Mr. McCoy admits to being outspoken and hopes to not say the wrong thing.    

“How do I feel about speaking? I’m the most monotone person of all time. This is going to be a train wreck. And I teach math and say a lot of dumb things. Luckily, the speech is written, so  hopefully I don’t say something that costs me my job,” he said. 

He is taking the job seriously, practicing day by day for the students. 

“I was taunted by Mrs. Gore for weeks leading up to it being official, followed by a daily countdown to the number of days I had left to give this speech,” he said.