Ryan Hennesy

Winter Springs High School alum, Ryan Hennesy, has been teaching US History at Oviedo High School for fifteen years. 

“When I was little, I had no idea what I wanted to do if I wanted to be a firefighter, or a police officer architect for a while,” Hennessy said. “…it’s kind of all over the place, but that kind of sparked a passion. I went to college to become a teacher, and I’ve never thought about leaving ever since.”

As a US History teacher, Hennessy educates students about the extensive history of our country, from our foundations, to what the country is now.

“I love being able to interact with students, it’s much better than being stuck in a cubicle somewhere, being quiet, and writing TPS reports.” Hennessy said. 

His main goal as a teacher is to be able to get all of his students to describe why they know their answers, not just what the answers are, in order to help them get a deeper understanding of the subject. 

“It becomes more obvious the older you get that everything is cyclical,” Hennessy said. “Every twenty years things get refreshed or repeated, from fashion to politics.” 

Liam Mason

As an alum from Gateway High School in Kissimmee, Oviedo High School teacher Liam Mason enjoyed history as his favorite subject. 

“I like when students get that moment where they figure things out. Where you’re helping them with something and then they beat you to it. That aha moment is really cool to see happen with students and that’s what keeps me going,” said Mason, who teaches AP Macroeconomics and Personal Finance.

Mason has been teaching for nine years, and pushes his students hard to achieve greatness. 

“With my seniors I’m a lot more direct, and I treat them like adults, and I help them ask more senior level questions. The personal finance classes are mostly freshmen, so I try to nurture them a bit more in their questioning. In both classes my goal is to keep things enthusiastic and fun, while being weird and creative,” Mason said. 

Jennifer Dilmore

As Jennifer Dilmore closes in on her first year teaching world history at Oviedo High School, she enjoys being able to teach a subject with meaning.

“We’re able to draw from experiences in the past, so we don’t have to repeat them,” said Dilmore.  “We’re able to think critically about how people made decisions in the past and what resources they had available to them in order to make those decisions. Therefore, we can make better decisions for ourselves and not follow in their footsteps.”

Dilmore attended Palm Harbor University High School, and participated in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program that was offered there.

“I kind of fell into the theater program. It was one of those situations where I needed an elective and there weren’t a lot of options, so they put me into theater and I started doing really well with it and even went as far as competing,” Dilmore said. 

Dilmore also has a background in advertising, but ultimately ended up choosing to pursue teaching. 

“I like that I’m able to know that my job makes a difference,” said Dilmore. “…it’s not just for a paycheck.”