A Salt Lake City, Utah native somehow finds himself in Washington, DC. Through a childhood of moving around from city to city and even country to country, Mr. Aaron McDonald hopes to have found his permanent home here in Washington, DC and at Stone Ridge.
“My childhood was somewhat transient, we moved around quite a bit.” Moving from Wisconsin, to Kansas, and even to Germany two separate times, Mr. McDonald was able to meet lots of new people and have lots of different experiences. However, he was predominantly raised in Kansas. About 6 months ago, his family moved to the DC area from Salt Lake City. He describes Salt Lake City as, “the biggest small town you’ll ever live in. It’s a city so it has all the resources, but the feel of it is more like living in a sleepy town; it’s clean, it’s quiet, very safe, friendly.” In comparison, DC is “intense, but it’s a very welcoming and interesting metro area to live in.” While in Utah, Mr. McDonald worked online and his motivation to get back into the classroom helped him find his new home here at Stone Ridge.
“Stone Ridge definitely exceeded my expectations in terms of the kind of environment I wanted to work in,” said Mr. McDonald when asked how his first month working here has been. So far, he has been very impressed with the students. He sees them as hard-working, dedicated and honest. He is striving to echo these characteristics through his teaching. “You can just feel the sense of community and love, it’s like no place I’ve ever been.” He continued on and told a story about how he accidentally released students early from class, and all the students ended up coming back to class, and he noted that this, “would not have happened in any other environment and it speaks volumes about the students here, and how focused they are on learning.” Although, he admits that adjusting to our 80 minute block schedule has been a bit of a struggle.
Outside of the classroom, Mr. McDonald enjoys running and volleyball. Most of all, he loves spending time in the mountains. “It’s my zen space where it’s peaceful and quiet and reflective, and you can just enjoy nature at it’s best.” He loves any food with lemon in it, from lemon bars to lemon yogurt and everything in between. Some of his favorite TV shows include any adventure show, and, specifically, “Alone” on the Discovery Channel. He enjoys all kinds of music, except country, and particularly enjoys the neo soul and new age genres. Additionally, he has two dogs that travel with him everywhere he goes, which he calls his “fur babies.”
Above all, Mr. McDonald wants us to know that he is here for his students. “It’s about helping them be their best,” he says.