Upstairs in E201 is the room of a local icon, Kevin Hook. Most of you have probably heard of him, due to his involvement in cross country and track, or had him in one of his classes. For the people who don’t know him, they might wonder who exactly Hook is.
Kevin Michael Hook was born in 1998. He grew up in North Carolina, before moving in 2006 to Carmel.
At the high school Mr. Hook went to in Carmel, it was very crowded. There were over five thousand students.
It was at Carmel where Mr. Hook met some teachers, who would inspire him to become a teacher. When asked why he became a teacher, Hook said, “I wanted to become a teacher because I had a couple of good teachers in high school, and I wanted to do something that was meaningful and could help people.”
As a teacher, Mr. Hook teachers Algebra 1 repeat, college credit trigonometry, and regular geometry.
Teaching is not all he does though. He’s also involved in cross country and track. He serves as the head coach of cross country and distance coach for track.
When asked why he’s involved in cross country and track, Hook replied, “I’ve been running since the 5th grade, so I don’t remember what specifically made me want to run. I decided to become a coach because I want people to enjoy running as much as I do.”
Track and cross country, while similar, are not the same. Cross country is in the fall, and is one 3.1 mile race. Track is filled with many different challenges, such as running, jumping, throwing, etc.
Hook is also known for his generosity, with his food cabinet for his teams. “The kids who do cross country, I always make sure we have a good snack cabinet, because after running a lot, you get hungry. Every Friday we have ice cream.”
I interviewed Cooper King, who is a member of the track and cross country team. When asked, he said, “ Over the summer, I just wanted to try something new, so I just started going to the practices. I like the team environment. I liked the coaching environment, and as the season went on, I started liking it more and more.”
Since King is a distance runner, he practices by running two to five miles before games.
When asked about his coaches, King said, “Mr. Hook’s my coach, and he’s very positive, very encouraging, and he cares about all his runners.“
When entering Hook’s room, something becomes apparent: his love of crocs. On the walls of his room are croc posters, and even a croc banner over his door. Hook said that they have always been his shoe of choice, due to their comfortability, and is an avid collector of them, owning 17 pairs.
Mr. Hook is a familiar face in the school, known by many for his work in track and cross country, or for his math classes. If you ever want to visit Mr. Hook, stop by room E201.
