By Viviam Liao
Staff Writer
Standing at the front of the classroom, alumni Evan Phu flipped through his pre-prepared slides as he taught his students the inputs and outputs of different code functions. Growing up and graduating from TCHS, Phu now teaches AP Computer Science, Computer Science and Algebra 1.
“I’m really happy that I have the opportunity to teach at Temple City High School since I grew up here,” Phu said. “I always felt comfortable in this community and I still feel that way now. I wouldn’t think of a better place than here to start my teaching career.”
Phu earned a scholarship to UC Irvine to play in their Esports team in 2016. During his time there, he spent 30 hours a week practicing with four other teammates white balancing his school studies.
“It was very difficult to balance school and practice with the team,” Phu said. “It was basically a full time job since we spent a lot of time on the weekends practicing together in scrims, analyzing our gameplay, and having team meetings. But overall, it was such a fun and memorable experience.”
Phu’s team won the College League of Legends 2018 Competition and the $10,000 grand cash prize. They later went to compete in the international competition in China against teams from other countries such as Korea and Portugal.
“Since I’m a competitive person, it was a very thrilling and exciting experience for me,” Phu said. “It was one of the best moments of my life when we won nationally and I was able to compete internationally in China.”
In his late high school years, Phu wanted to be a pro-gamer but found the profession too unstable. He decided to pursue computer science in college and graduated from UC Irvine with a bachelors degree and earned his teaching credential at Cal State LA.
“If you decide to major in computer science, you typically think about going into software engineering or software development,” Phu said. “I thought about becoming a software engineer and had an internship for it, but I found that it wasn’t for me. Teaching to me was a much more fulfilling job.”
As a new teacher, Phu hopes that his students will thoroughly learn the material taught throughout the year and apply the knowledge in their life. For his AP students, he wants them to score well on the upcoming AP test, know how code works and how to apply it in daily life.
“Mr. Phu is a pretty cool teacher and looks like he knows a lot about the subject,” junior Atticus Wong said. “Since he’s younger than other teachers, I feel like students can relate to him more than some of the older teachers.”