Mr. Mark Killinger is the new health teacher and football coach at Holbrook Middle-High School. Before coming to Holbrook, Mr. Killinger taught at a private school in Boston for kindergarten through sixth graders. Now teaching middle and high school students in Holbrook, he has definitely had to adjust to the new environment, but says that the year is going great so far. He’s enjoyed getting to know all of the students, both in the classroom and on the field.

Currently, Mr. Killinger has four classes of middle schoolers and one class of high school students. He has each group for a quarter of the year, during which they will focus on three major categories of health – physical, social, and mental/emotional. While most would expect the class to be about physical health, discussions about social health address communication skills and those about mental and emotional health help students deal with peer pressure and self-esteem.

Mr. Killinger is also the head coach of the football team. While they haven’t been having the best season so far, he says that they are definitely working hard and making progress. Killinger says that part of the process is “changing the culture” and seeing things from different perspectives.

Mr. Killinger has always loved football, playing throughout high school and college. He started coaching when he graduated from Endicott. He says that if he were not a health teacher, he’d want to be coaching at the college level.

When asked if there was anything he’d like the students to know about him, he said that he’s “welcoming and more than happy to do whatever [he] can for the students.”