Although Mr. Davis is one of the newest teachers on campus, he is also one of the most familiar with the school. As a 2007 Belmont Hill graduate, he is one of eight alumni working as teachers. Mr. Davis started his Belmont Hill experience in the fall of 2001 and immediately fell in love with the school. Playing football in the fall, hockey in the winter, and baseball in the spring, Mr. Davis quickly made new friends in his early years due to both his easygoing nature and obvious athletic ability. Although he changed sports a few times, running cross country in ninth and tenth grade and rowing from ninth grade until senior year, Mr. Davis’s rock remained hockey; he had started the sport at a very young age and started on varsity as an ace defenseman.
Although Mr. Davis loved hockey, it was definitely not his only passion at Belmont Hill. Mr. Davis’s well roundedness showed throughout his career at Belmont Hill, as he was a part of community service, set tech, and chess club. Mr. Davis was heavily involved in the Bread Squad, a club where Middle Schoolers went down to a nearby Panera Bread and, after gathering leftover bread from the day before, delivered loaves to shelters.
It is impossible to talk about Mr. Davis without talking about his Latin career. Taking the language of the Romans for all six years of his Belmont Hill career, Mr. Davis had Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Richards as teachers, two of the most renowned teachers here; he continues to have a strong relationship with his former teachers to this day. As all classics students at Belmont Hill know, the core membership of each class remains the same year after year, and a strong relationship develops between class members. In Mr. Davis’s class, the same eight students came back every year, and they created a Latin Club at Belmont Hill to both enhance their skills and have a good time.
Upon graduation, Mr. Davis did not have to buy a plane ticket or board a boat to get to college, due to the proximity of Tufts University in Medford. Mr. Davis played hockey for four years for the Jumbos and was elected captain in his senior year. He majored in classics at Tufts; however, instead of becoming a teacher or professor of his favorite language, Mr. Davis decided to pursue his dream of becoming a professional hockey player. After receiving only one offer from a team in the United States, Mr. Davis brought his talents to Germany. He already knew some German from an exchange student his family had previously housed, but the transition was definitely a large one. While in Germany, Mr. Davis coached a local youth team and found his passion for coaching. After one year across the Atlantic Ocean, Mr. Davis returned home to coach at a school he had not been to in five years: Belmont Hill.
As the assistant JV hockey coach for two years, Mr. Davis found that he had missed Belmont Hill tremendously while he was away; however, he was only coaching as a side job and spent his days as a construction worker. The first time that Mr. Davis seriously considered working at Belmont Hill full-time was when he applied for the job of head JV coach, a position that he holds to this day. In the summer of 2015, Mr. Davis officially got the job as a teacher at Belmont Hill. This year, Mr. Davis only teaches Latin Alpha and woodworking, but with his strong background in classics, he hopes to teach higher levels of Latin as he gains experience in the classroom. Besides being the JV hockey coach, Mr. Davis is also leading the First Form soccer team. All in all, Mr. Davis has many skills that will enhance the community for years to come, and we are as glad to have him back as he is to be here. In his own words, he “cannot think of a better place to be.”
