Super Staff: Tomm Stewart, Math
Written by Viktoria Balyanova, Former Student on Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Tomm Stewart is a world traveler, a very open-minded person, the father of eleven kids, a volunteer in Africa, and a SHS math teacher. Mr. Stewart can’t imagine his life without traveling because, as he said, "You can’t come back the same person after your adventures.”
-Mr. Stewart, when did you go to Africa and what did you do there?
- I went there this summer in a mission of mercy, education, and new adventures. You are changing somebody’s life, or giving them an opportunity to change their life.
-What is the goal of your traveling and volunteering?
- We are building a bridge between people, and making the world a better place!
- What was the most memorable situation?
- I think it was when I was staying near the pharmacy and suddenly I saw an African boy. He was looking at me with his really hungry and kind eyes. I gave him a box of cookies; it was the only thing that I had with me. The boy started to eat them one by one, and when the box was empty he started to tear off the paper from the box and eat it because it was sweet. Also, my colleagues provided medical care. One time, there was a really long line of people who needed help. One woman came because there was something in her ear, so she couldn’t hear anything. When experts cleaned it they saw that she was crying. Everybody near her started to cry. Now she can hear the people’s voices, wind, foliage swaying, human’s steps.
-What is, in your opinion, the most important thing during traveling?
-African people sometimes asked me, “Why are you here? Why do you help us?” I think that we should show people that we love them, that we respect their culture and that we really care about them. They can't imagine how many things they actually taught me, and how much I got from them.
-What is the most important thing that you are trying to teach your eleven children?
-Hmm… I think that there are two things. The first is my faith; the second is that you should love others as they love themselves.
