David Morehead, who teaches 6th-grade math, honors math and 7th-grade math in Notre Dame's middle division, met his wife, Hyesu, while living and working in South Korea.
It was December of last year when Notre Dame middle-division Principal Jill Mistretta first received an email from a teacher who was living in South Korea and inquiring about a job at NDPMA.
“We jokingly now refer to that email as the ‘cold-call email,’” said Mistretta. “But I’m positive the Holy Spirit guided me directly to what was terrific opportunity for our school.”
Now, because of that “terrific opportunity,” the middle division’s new math teacher, David Morehead, is back living in southeast Michigan and, most importantly, is helping to redefine math for the NDPMA’s middle schoolers.
“The challenge of making math class enjoyable and helping the students understand the purpose of math is something I thoroughly enjoy,” said Morehead, who grew up in Royal Oak and graduated from Michigan State University’s College of Engineering. “Making math class enjoyable and helping the students understand the purpose of math is a big part of what I do.”
Even though teaching seemingly is all-consuming for Morehead now, it wasn’t his first career choice out of college.
“I worked in the metals industry for about 10 years prior to becoming a teacher,” he said. “I had a feeling I wanted to make a career change so I started tutoring in math part time. I knew soon enough that teaching would complement my personality and provide me ultimately with a rewarding career.”
Morehead first foray into education as a career started a long way from Pontiac, however.
“Before Notre Dame, I had taught at two other international schools, both in Seoul, South Korea,” he said. “I wanted to live in Asia so working at an international school was a great way to start my teaching career and experience living in a new country.”
That experience also led Morehead to his wife, Hyesu, who he met while in South Korea.
“Hyesu and I had so much in common, including a love for food and taking those trips back then to Thailand to escape the ‘Michiganesque’ winters of Korea,” he said. “But now, after being away from Michigan for close to a decade, it is wonderful to be back and to be working at Notre Dame!”
According to Mistretta, in the classroom, Morehead really strives to help his students be curious about math — not just to follow memorized steps to find solutions — but to categorize problems based on what they look like and to apply the best ”recipe" to solve them.
“Kids love his class,” she said. “Over the summer David shared with me an article that he refers to each year before the start of school. It’s a progressive math-related piece (maybe too way out for some math teachers) which, in my opinion, is the direction schools should be headed. In fact, the author of that article is referenced in a book I am very familiar with: ‘Most Likely to Succeed; Preparing our Kids for the Innovation Era,’ whose author, Tony Wagner, was a featured speaker at the Nov. 3-4 ISACS Annual Conference in Columbus.”
Clearly succeeding at his current job at Notre Dame, Morehead said his first impressions of Notre Dame upon his arrival on campus were very positive. He said the school seemed to have a “great aura” about it.
“I felt very comfortable on my first visit to the school because of the people I met and the beautiful campus,” he said. “After that first visit, I knew Notre Dame was the school at which I wanted to work. I am so happy I became part of the Notre Dame family!”
But, we still wondered, what would Morehead like to do now if he wasn’t a teacher.
“Perhaps I could be an entrepreneur, maybe start a gym for kickboxing and taekwondo with my wife,” he said. “My wife has 10 black belts and I have zero, so I guess she would be the boss! But creating a family business would be a great experience.”
For her part, Mistretta is quite pleased this math teacher is now a member of the Notre Dame family.
“The connections between David and Notre Dame are many,” she said. “They once again are constant reminders to me that Mary guides what we do here and protects the students of our school.”
Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org.
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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." The Marist Fathers and Brothers sponsor NDPMA's Catholic identity and manages its educational program. Notre Dame is accredited by the National Association of Independent Schools, the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.