Fireside C hat
WITH MIKE COLLINS
As an alum of Devon Prep if you’re reading this, you know who Mr. Mike Collins is, and you likely had him in one of the many history courses he taught over the years. No doubt you have a Collins story or two of your own - maybe he booted you from class, or threatened you if your AP score wasn’t high enough, or told a joke that made you fall out of your desk. We sat down with him and uncovered some great stories, but do yourself a favor and come back to campus, invite him to your reunion, do whatever you need to get your own conversation with the man, the myth, the legend: Mr. Michael Collins. Q: Talk about your time as a student. Who were your favorite teachers? My favorite teacher was my father, John Collins, he taught English, and Marty Bowen, he taught English and History. My dad, I never knew what to call him in class. He said “Just call me Mr.Collins”. Q: Any lessons or funny stories from your time as a student? Lessons? Nothing is easy. Well, college was easy. Graduate school was easy. But only because of the work I did at Devon. Stories? The only detention I got was from my father. He caught Bill Duffy and I smoking in what is now the locker room bathroom. We thought we were hiding it by blowing it up the air ducts but he somehow caught us! Then on the way home he bummed a cigarette off me. One other story, in the room that is now the oratory [room 127], we had German class and on the back door (the closet door) we stenciled “Men”. And for the first half of the year Bill Duffy used the closet during class as a men’s room. We got bored that he would just stay there for 15 minutes, so Duffy decided to add a little to his excursions to the men’s room by bringing a tape recorder with him and play a toilet flushing. We did that for a month. Then he decided to come out with his pants down bare-ass and tell father that there was no toilet paper left in the bathroom. At that point father discovered the ruse and grabbed his pointer and beat Duffy’s ass chasing him down the hall. Q: Why did you come back to Devon to teach? What was the adjustment like from student to teacher? Actually, the previous history teacher quit, and my dad offered me the job! It was all anaccident. I had plans to go to law school, in fact was already admitted into Villanova’s law school. When I got a call from my dad, in the summer saying the previous history teacher just quit and if you want a job you can teach history at Devon, and father needs an answer within a week. Seeing how my father sat at the kitchen table every night grading, I didn’t want to teach. Plus I knew how difficult it was to make ends meet on a teacher’s salary, but at that point I needed money. I decided I’d give it one year. Started teaching and I fell in love with it. The rest is history. The adjustment to teaching was a lot easier than how other teachers would find it. I had my father as a mentor and knew the culture of Devon. Plus I knew every trick in the book on how a student might cheat!
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