Delbarton’s New Faculty Member: Mr. Christopher Fielder

In addition to the newly designed classrooms and fully functioning air conditioning, Delbarton hired several new faculty members this past summer. Mr. Christopher Fielder joined the Delbarton community to teach both History and English. Although a new teacher, Mr. Fielder has been coaching Delbarton Forensics part-time for the past two years, allowing him to meaningfully contribute to the debate team. He has and will continue to assist managing the Public Forum debaters, even though he excelled in Extemporaneous Speaking during his own years of competition.

Before Delbarton, Mr. Fielder coached debate at Ridge High School in New Jersey and Palos Verdes Peninsula High School in California. As Mr. Fielder stated, “Teaching never crossed my mind until I coached debate while pursuing an undergraduate degree, and even then, it was only an afterthought to me. Father Michael is the real hero here. He encouraged me to apply for an opening in the history department at Delbarton, though I interviewed for an English position at the same time.” Throughout his education, speech and debate played an integral role. Learning to speak clearly and easily articulate his ideas, Mr. Fielder learned about the world through forensics and even got a scholarship to college.

Through many of his experiences, Mr. Fielder has acquired a true understanding of how new experiences can lead people to “beautiful, otherwise impossible ends,” as he puts it. When he was fourteen years old, he decided to take the speech and debate class at Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Missouri. Although initially he had a tremendous fear of public speaking, he joined nonetheless, hoping to make new friends. Aside from debate, Mr. Fielder has a plethora of experiences that shaped him into the person he is today. When his high school friend Andrew visited him in Newark a couple of years ago, Mr. Fielder decided to show him New York City for the first time. Just as he had done when he first saw the bustling city of New York, Andrew was in complete awe from the towering skyscrapers to the bustling traffic. Mr. Fielder noted, “Leaving Kansas City was a big personal decision. Watching a friend see beyond the Midwestern bubble in real time assured me that I had made the right decision to explore beyond Missouri.” Just as choosing to take a class that he would not normally have taken influenced him in incredible ways, Mr. Fielder urges the freshman class to “stick their necks out” and try something new. It could surely end in something amazing.

When asked about the Delbarton community and what he hopes to achieve, Mr. Fielder provided excellent responses:

AR: So far, what do you like the most about Delbarton?

CF: Everyone at Delbarton seems to hold others in such high esteem. I expected at least a few students to be rude, or not to get along with at least one person at the school. Not the case at all. This place is the most supportive environment I could have imagined.

AR: What are you looking forward to in this coming school year?

CF: I am excited to grow as an educator and person at Delbarton. Even away from campus, the Delbarton effect reinvigorates me to get back into things I like doing but dropped at some point in college — playing guitar and writing in particular. Of course, I am also looking forward to working with a forensics program which I think can accomplish special things this year!

We all wish Mr. Fielder a wonderful start to his teaching career at Delbarton and welcome him to the home of the Green Wave!