By Matthew Rowe

In the fall of 2019, Collegiate welcomed biology teacher Steve Oden to the Upper School science faculty. After many years at other schools, Oden has found himself at Collegiate School teaching the subject he loves.

Oden and his family. Photo courtesy of Steve Oden.

Oden grew up in Greeneville, Tennessee in the 1960s and 1970s. He graduated from Greeneville High School in 1974 and went on to attend the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Oden’s main areas of focus in college were “baseball and getting through to get a job.” He then attended the University of Southern Mississippi, where he earned his Bachelor of Science and Master’s in biology. In 1982, he went to North Carolina State University with the goal of completing a doctorate in marine biology and eventually teaching at a university. After three years at North Carolina State University, looking at potentially another six to seven years of school before getting a full-paying job, Oden decided to change career paths.

After two boring years at Carolina Biological Supply Company, a company that supplies math and science materials to educators across the country, Oden decided to pursue teaching at the high school level. He taught for 18 years at Patrick Henry High School in Hanover, Virginia, covering nearly every non-physical science, including biology, oceanography, earth science, and anatomy at the Honors, AP, and IB levels. In 2005, Oden began working for the MathScience Innovation Center (MSIC) where he taught specific lessons at different schools across the Richmond metropolitan area. These lessons varied from discussing hurricanes and how they work to studying sickle cell anemia and the science behind its causes. 

Through these teaching experiences, Oden developed his easy-going classroom environment. He does not want students to dread his class. Instead, he prefers that students at least somewhat enjoy what they are learning and not feel overwhelmed by an austere classroom environment. Oden says, “If I don’t take myself too seriously, then maybe it sets the stage for everyone else in the classroom to not take themselves too seriously.” He really enjoys what he is teaching, even if he says he is “not the best at it,” and he likes “seeing other people learn” about the material. 

After hearing about Collegiate’s open position in the science department* at the end of the 2018-2019 school year, Oden put in an application, and after interviewing with Upper School Head Patrick Loach, he became a Cougar in a few weeks, filling the position in the Upper School biology department. He started at Collegiate in August 2019, leaving his old job at MSIC. 

When asked about the most notable difference between Collegiate and his previous teaching posts, Oden mentioned the Honor Code. Loach explained in their initial interview that there are no locks on the lockers, which was Oden’s first experience with the value of honor at Collegiate. It was striking to him that students could leave their belongings outside lying around and not have to worry about something being gone when they came back. Oden was impressed by the adherence to the Honor Code and the students’ respect for each other. 

After three semesters as a Cougar teaching Honors and AP Biology, Oden’s favorite part about the Collegiate community is without a doubt the students. He praised them for their strong work ethic and their focus on academics, something he did not always see at previous schools. Furthermore, Oden was impressed by the strict social decorum students were taught at Collegiate. Students thanking him as they left his class was one of the particularly obvious examples of this politeness. “I’ve never had students thank me for occupying 55 minutes of their time,” explained Oden. In his first year, he liked that “after every single class most students, as they left, said ‘Thank you.’” 

In the spring of his first year, dealing with the pandemic and online school was “tough” for Oden. He missed out on direct engagement with his students, meeting with them on Zoom rather than in-person. Oden was thankful to be able to return to campus this school year and converse with his new students. He also noted that masks “didn’t change who we are.” Oden explained, “we are still the same people, even if we can’t be heard as loudly or as clearly” through the masks. While labs are challenging to put together under Collegiate’s socially distant school format, Oden has still managed to run his class relatively well. 

Aside from his Collegiate life, Oden is married and has a son and a daughter. He married his wife, Emily, in 1981 in Mississippi. She now works as a nurse. His son Michael works as a librarian in Atlanta, Georgia, while his daughter Allyson is a music teacher who lives in Chesterfield with her husband J, a Chesterfield firefighter. 

Oden really loves talking to students in his classes to know who they are as people outside of class. He likes to keep his classroom environment relaxed and non-confrontational. In fact, almost every day during my C Period AP Biology class, Oden tells a long-winded joke at the beginning or end of class that always gets a laugh out of his students. 

Outside of class, on the other hand, he describes himself as “not very outgoing,” as well as “nice and polite.” Oden also has a real appreciation for written and spoken words through poetry and other media, including jokes. One of his best jokes is about a three-legged pig, so be sure to ask him to tell it the next time you see him. 

* CORRECTION: A previous version of this article stated that Oden replaced Dr. Karin Mauer, which was incorrect. Dr. Mauer left Collegiate at the end of the 2019-2020 school year. We regret the error.