Q & A: History Teacher Discusses Moving To Alabama

Crimson Crier: Where were you born?

Mr. Larsen: Fairmont, Minnesota

Crimson Crier: What was it like growing up in South Dakota? What do you miss the most about home?

Mr. Larsen: I grew up in Iowa. And I mostly miss friends and family.

Crimson Crier: How did you feel when you knew you had to move away from home? What did you feel when you got here?

Mr. Larsen: At first I was anxious and nervous. When we first got here we had to GPS everything. Back home I had to shovel snow so I was always tired when I came in the house. We decided to move, my wife got a job at 3M and I knew I could teach anywhere. It was hard at first, but we love it now.

Crimson Crier: What were your plans you had for yourself and your family?

Mr. Larsen: We wanted to give this place 100 percent and move away from everything we came from. My wife was going to be an engineer. And I was going to teach again.

Crimson Crier: How would you say your wife and kids adjusted to a completely new environment? Do you think they adapted well?

Mr. Larsen: My older son transitioned easily, he was in kindergarten, it was harder for my younger son because he had to leave behind his preschool friends. I would always ask him if he played with someone new today, he would always say he forgot their names. I would ask: did you ask them.  He would say no. So I taught him how to introduce himself by saying, “Hi my name is Colby, what’s your name?” And I remember one day he asked me if I had met someone new today. I told him no buddy I didn’t, then he told me how to introduce myself by saying, “Hi my name is daddy, what’s your name?

Crimson Crier: What was the biggest challenge you struggled with when you came here? How did you overcome it?

Mr. Larsen: When I first started off teaching in the fieldhouse. Then I had to borrow many teachers’ classrooms for different blocks. Everything I needed was on my cart. I had to push it down the hallway and it was not an easy thing to do because the cart was hard to steer. Looking back I’m grateful because I met so many people.

Crimson Crier: What do you appreciate the most about this place?

Mr. Larsen: The weather and restaurants.

Crimson Crier: If you could experience one memory from your past what would it be? Why?

Mr. Larsen: Canyon Lake Park because it was so beautiful. It has this great big lake that you could see and it was amazing. I would definitely go back there.

Crimson Crier: What was your first priority moving here? And what kind of atmosphere did you want to set as a teacher and as a person?

Mr. Larsen: My first priority was finding a house because we lived in an apartment for a month with no furniture and sleeping on an air mattress. And getting our boys registered for school because they start school so early here while back home we started at the end of August. As a teacher I wanted to make my class be an oasis and give it everything I got. Because everyone is tired and stressed from their other classes and I wanted them to walk into my class and feel relieved.

Crimson Crier: How did the influence of people affect your life? What kind of influence do you think you had on people around you?

Mr. Larsen: The people who were positive and tried to shut out negative influence as much as I could. I wanted people to see me as different. And tried to be a good person.

Crimson Crier: What do you love most about history?

Mr. Larsen: I love the stories and how it ties into today. It’s so fascinating.