Teacher Spotlight: Jeff Caron

As of recently, many teachers of Mayfair High School are leaving due to many reasons. Whether that would be quitting, retirement, or being transferred, a noticeable amount of teachers will be leaving Mayfair’s beloved community starting the 2025-2026 school year.

As for Mr. Caron, the AP Government teacher, is retiring after 21 years of teaching history to many Mayfair students. His educational career started all the way back in 2004, in which he also did his student teaching at Mayfair as well. The reason behind Mr. Caron’s choice in teaching history was mainly inspired by his father’s fascination with history and a general interest in learning about historical periods of the history of the United States.

Besides teaching history, Mr. Caron has also taught Driver’s Education up until the 2010s due to budget constraints and how short the class was. Especially since Mr. Caron had six different classrooms back when he was beginning to teach, which severely contrasts the single room that he teaches in now at 112. He described the first years of his teaching as “So it was chaotic, it was really hard, and it was all 7th grade.”

Yet despite the rocky beginnings as a history teacher, Mr. Caron always remembers enjoying the moment where the class is comfortable with each other and it’s easier to get something accomplished during that period. Throughout Mr. Caron’s teaching experiences, he gained a vision of seeing an aspect of himself through every student he taught, good or bad. He finds that there’s relatability between how he was as a student and how his students act now, which gives him an idea of how to assist them in learning. In a way, Mr. Caron remarks that his career has changed him into a more professional and refined manner.

Furthermore, Mr. Caron decided to pick teaching after getting his masters from college. He states: “I felt I could do it and I needed to do something else besides what I was doing”. Funny enough though, Mr. Caron’s dream job before going into teaching was being a cross country truck driver. But while Mr. Caron decided against that, he managed to travel across the world in places like Europe and Asia to explore and learn history outside of the U.S. Besides that, Mr. Caron always recommends to both new teachers and students to “Be generous in your interactions with other people. Don’t be small and petty, and collaborate.”

Overall, Mr. Caron says that he’s really enjoyed teaching history to students at Mayfair High School and he will miss the students and staff as he finally goes into a well-deserved retirement.