Meet MWCC’s New Chemistry Professor, John Sirois
By Maddie Willigar | Editor-in-Chief
Assistant Chemistry Professor, Dr. John Sirois, has just begun his first semester at Mount Wachusett Community College after moving back from Alaska, where he taught the past five years.
Originally from Massachusetts, Sirois moved away from home after completing his master’s degree. From here, he continued his education at the University of Rhode Island (URI), where he obtained his Ph.D., and Oregon State University (OSU), where he completed his post-doctoral fellowship.
After his fellowship at OSU, Sirois said he wasn’t quite ready to make his way back to New England as he was still eager to learn from different people and places. This led him to apply to many teaching positions in various parts of the world, to which Sirois decided on Matanuska-Susitna College in Alaska.
Being many miles from home, Sirois said video games played a significant factor in remaining connected to his family. “The only reason I was able to be so far away for so long was because we all played online video games together pretty regularly,” Sirois said.
However, even before moving to Alaska, Sirois said he always knew he would return home, and that he did. After teaching at Matanuska-Susitna College for five years, Sirois wanted to move back to Massachusetts be closer to his family.
Having just come from a community college, Sirois knew he wanted to remain teaching at a school of this size, which was one reasons he was drawn to the Mount. On top of this, he explained that MWCC seemed “receptive” to how he wanted to teach students and that they trusted his previous work with students.
“I am fortunate that I was able to work in a beautiful place like Alaska with excellent faculty members. I learned a great amount during my time at Matanuska-Susitna College, and I am excited to share my experience with our community at MWCC,” Sirois said.
One aspect of his experience that Sirois was excited to bring to the Mount was organic chemistry, which he was not able to teach at his previous college despite it being his favorite class. Sirois said, “It just explains everything around you. It’s the chemistry of living things, so you can really just appreciate the world a bit more when you understand the basics of it.”
Sirois takes opportunities to appreciate the world often, as most of his hobbies involve outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, backpacking, skiing, and walking his two-year-old lab mix. He has also recently started homebrewing, which Sirois said has a lot of chemistry behind it.
However, despite his interest in chemistry, Sirois said he didn’t always know he wanted to be a professor. “I’m a first-generation college student, so I was just figuring it all out by myself,” Sirois said. After signing up for his undergraduate degree, he said the first few years of college were challenging, but that eventually, he was able to “get the rhythm of things and…pull [his] head up and look at the future.”
During undergraduate school is when Sirois said he “fell in love with the field,” as he was able to get more involved with lab work. Coming from a family of chefs, Sirois said, “I felt completely comfortable in the lab since I sent most of my life until then working in kitchens for catering companies with my family.”
Upon completing his bachelor’s degree at UMass Dartmouth, Sirois took some time off schooling to work in “industry.” Here he worked as a field technician for a few months before switching to work as a forensic scientist. Working in these fields brought to light how much he missed the challenge of academics, prompting Sirois’s return to UMass Dartmouth for his master’s, and then to URI for his Ph.D.
Though during this time, Sirois thought research and lab work was what he would pursue after college, he began to see a different spark towards the end of his graduate studies. With new undergraduate students coming in each semester, Sirois soon realized that he really enjoyed mentoring and working with them and that this was what he wanted to do.
“Teaching…has been the only job I’ve ever had where every semester and every day I wake up and I’m just super excited to see what happens,” Sirois said. He explained that even though he has taught the same classes for a long time, every semester is different. This variety is one of his favorite parts of teaching.
Sirois said another one of his favorite parts is helping students understand and use the difficult concepts he teaches, as well as the direct communication and “dialogue with students.” Before coming to the Mount, Sirois had been teaching entirely online since the pandemic. Coming back in person, Sirois explained, being able to work with the students made things so much “more real.”
Yet, the most challenging part of being a professor, Sirois said, is determining how to “convey” or break down these complex concepts in a way that students can understand. Sirois noted that the “traditional lecture system” often provided by colleges worked great for him. However, he recognized this might not be the case for everyone else, so the hardest part is learning the differing needs of others so he can accommodate them.
Sirois advised all students to communicate with and ask questions to their professors as this allows professors to gauge where they are struggling. Sirois explained that he remembers being afraid of asking questions to his professors as a student, but now that he is a professor himself, he sees a whole different side of it where he is waiting and willing to help.
“Professors are people too,” Sirois said. “We want to talk to you; we want to help you, and the sooner you start that dialogue, the better.”
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