Math is just like patterns and puzzles just like knitting, Thomas Berry enjoys doing both of these activities.
This is math teacher Thomas Berry’s first year at Trinity, Berry has been teaching for 28 years. From a young age, Thomas Berry was exposed to the world of teaching, both of his parents were math teachers so his love for math came naturally. Berry this year and is teaching College Algebra, Honors Calculus, and Honors Precalculus.
“It’s the family business, both of my parents were math teachers,” Berry said.
Berry grew up three hours south of the District of Columbia in central Virginia. Berry attended Wake Forest University, where he got his Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics with minors in computer science and history. Berry then attended the University of Virginia to get his Master of Arts degree in Mathematics and in Curriculum and Instruction. Berry loves the way math always has a solution and a correct answer to each problem. Math is just like puzzles and each puzzle piece fits into place.
“I just always grew up around math and I think the way they always presented it to me, it was just puzzles,” Berry said. “Math is all just games and puzzles and I loved it and it’s just a lot of fun.”
Berry has taught in The District of Columbia, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. Berry came to Trinity Prep after recently moving to Orlando from Cheshire Academy in Cheshire, Connecticut, where he taught Integrated Math II Accelerated and IB Mathematical Analysis. He coached varsity cross country and boys lacrosse, and will continue to pursue his love for coaching at Trinity.
“I’ll be coaching boys lacrosse this spring, so that’s always been my first love as a coach and I’m excited to get started here,” Berry said.
Outside of the classroom Berry is found playing video games, biking, hiking and reading. Berry’s favorite video game to play is FIFA. Berry also finds playing the piano a good pass time.
“I call myself a recreational piano player, I’m terrible at it,” Berry said.“[but] I love it, so if I have a really stressful day and I need to just release and unwind, I do that and I’ve been doing it for years.”
Berry loves knitting, one of his favorite is making hats. He loves the unique patterns created on them, and appreciates how easy they are to make. Berry has enjoyed knitting from a young age when he was taught by his mother and grandmother.
“I like [making] hats, when I lived in New Hampshire, it made a lot more sense,” Berry said.Hats are big enough that you can get some interesting patterns, but small enough that you can finish them quickly.”
Berry came to Trinity because of the productive and positive environment, helpfulness of everyone around, and the open minded attitude of each student.
“It was the feeling I got from the people that I met, everybody seemed really friendly and academically motivated, but also not snooty,” Berry said. “I got impressions from some other schools that were in the same ballpark academically, that they looked down on other people and I didn’t get that sense at Trinity, people seem to be inclusive and welcoming.”
Berry hopes to help students change their perception of math to a more positive experience and eventually make them love math class even if they don’t love math, and take away a positive experience from each class.
“I want you to love math class, and want you to have an appreciation for what you did,” Berry said. “It could be you enjoyed it, you had fun, you worked at it and are proud of what you did, but I want you to leave with some kind of positive experience.”
