“I was surprised by how intelligent he is; he makes math seem so easy,” said Larrissa Le Vasser, sophomore at Granite. “Since math is not my favorite subject, he makes it simple for me to understand it.”

Keith’s favorite subjects have always been math and science, but he enjoys math most of all.

“I liked math because it was a science that always had answers to it. There is always a logical answer to it; you can always prove everything in math,” said Keith.

As a kid, Keith struggled in math.

“I remember one time in eighth grade I was taking algebra and we were writing systems of equations, but I could not figure out how to do it,” said Keith. “So I was at home studying by myself, like most students do, and I spent like 15 minutes on this one problem and I still did not understand it. It was so bad that I actually started crying just because I felt so stupid. I felt like I was defeated. I even was kind of banging my head on the desk because I was so frustrated. But then I got it; I don’t know how I got it but I did.”

In high school, Keith was a very well-rounded student, and he was also involved in sports throughout high school. He participated in cross-country, track, basketball, and soccer.

“I think it’s great that Granite has a good role model for students to look up to that was good academically and in sports,” said Taylor Merritt, sophomore at Granite.

Keith attended Mount Whitney High School in Visalia, Calif. and out of the many classes he took, he decided to take physics his junior year, which led to him to majoring in physics during college.

“I wanted to take AP biology, but I was not able to because the classes were too impacted. So my second choice was physics,” said Keith, “I liked physics because most of it involved a lot of math, so then I decided to take AP physics my senior year. I liked physics, so I decided to major in physics in college.”

Keith decided to attend University of California, San Diego after high school.

“I went to UC San Diego because I knew I was going to major in some science. Out of the schools I got in to, I picked the schools that had a more prestigious record in science. My choices were Cal Poly, UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, and UC San Diego,” said Keith.

In college Keith was thinking about a career in research, but instead Keith decided he was going to teach. So right after he got out of college Keith went straight into teaching.

For the most part Keith likes his job.

“There are days were it is not enjoyable and I don’t like it. I don’t like dealing with the little things around it, like grading and I don’t like having to deal with attitudes,” said Keith. “I like teaching math, getting up in front of the class and engaging every one that is teaching, that is what I like.”

Like any other job, teaching can have its challenges. For Keith, one of them is getting students to care about education.

“Motivating student to do well in something they do not care about is extremely difficult. You can’t teach inspiration and you can’t teach passion,” said Keith. “You are always going to have students who don’t appreciate or care for education; it is always going to be difficult to deal with.”

After his life at school, Keith also has a life of his own. Keith likes to spend time with his friends and family.

Keith likes to do activities like bicycling, working out and traveling. He also likes to play disc golf.

“It’s like playing golf, but instead of a ball and a hole it’s a small Frisbee and a basket,” said Keith.

This winter Keith is planning to travel to Cambodia for a few weeks with one of his friends.

“They have temples, and jungles, and beaches. I though the idea was cool,” said Keith.

In a year or two Keith plans to leave the Valley and look for a job up north or overseas.

“I have a lot of family up north, and I also really like the idea of looking for a job overseas,” said Keith.