Written By: Vicktor Duffy, Staff Writer
JOURNEY: Probation officer, turned elementary teacher, turned high school theatre legend.
Christopher MarkerMorse’s first teaching job was as a long-term substitute for a Deaf education program at Huntington Beach High School in 1987. He had training to be an interpreter, and when he moved here in 1988, “[his] intention was to become a counsellor, and [he] was doing some work with the California School for the Deaf down the street” from Poly. His graduate work was in counseling, and he even has a degree in Human Services. MarkerMorse never imagined himself as a teacher, yet here he is, retiring from Riverside Poly High School after some 37 total years of teaching.
His first “grown-up job” (as he described it) was as a probation officer. As a probation officer, “it was a lot of writing and not counseling.” He would drive to places like Blythe and Indio to interview people at jails. When MarkerMorse’s boss brought him in for his one-year evaluation, she told him, “Before we have this discussion, I want you to see this”—she slid over a piece of paper. Everything was great. He got an excellent evaluation.—She said, “you’re in the wrong job. You need to be a teacher.”
She made him a deal. He could leave that day, and she would put—in writing—that his badge, gun, and desk were all his if he decided to return, but he had to try teaching. So, he went home to talk to his wife, and he remembers that she started laughing before she told him, “of course you should be a teacher.”He took a year to become a teacher and fell in love with it. For a long time, he was an elementary teacher—mostly sixth grade—and never thought he wanted to do anything else. Throughout this, he had always been doing theatre, but he had never really thought about being a theatre teacher. However, he immediately began to produce children’s plays, even as a student teacher. “It just seemed natural,” he said; he “knew theatre.”
He became friends with the Poly theatre director while his son was a student, and they told him—just like his former boss had told him—that he was doing the wrong thing. They told him he “shouldn’t be an elementary teacher; [he] should be a high school theatre teacher.” He recalls going home and talking to his wife, who laughed and told him, “of course [he] should be a theatre teacher.” He spent the next year getting an English credential—which was required back then—to become a theatre teacher. He started teaching at Arlington High School in 2010 and moved to Poly the following year.
Since then, he has left an indelible mark on the lives of his students. His dedication, passion, and unique teaching style have educated and inspired countless young minds, a testament to his profound impact on the lives he has touched.
MarkerMorse is glad to have been able to form so many student-teacher relationships. He says that he “didn’t understand that would be the coolest part about [his] job. [He] really love[s] the relationships [he has] developed as a professional with families and students.”
Though he is sad to go, he is excited to focus on being a creative again; to write, to perform, to play. He is looking forward to being responsible for his art rather than everyone else’s for a while. MarkerMorse will be playing a benefit concert on the last Friday of school with his band. I hope Mr. Markermorse realizes that he will be missed, and of course, once a Poly Bear, always a Poly Bear!!!