With four generations of teachers in his family, it was only fitting that Paul McGee would become a teacher. But having grown up in Burtonport, a rural town on Ireland’s Atlantic Coast, with a population of less than 350 people, he didn’t expect to end up at St. John’s. 

As a boy, McGee enjoyed fishing for trout, rowing in the Atlantic, golfing and playing Gaelic football. After living with only Irish people in his childhood, the differences of Houston, and especially St. John’s, surprised him when compared to his hometown and college—he studied economics and finance and later obtained his Professional Graduate Diploma in Education at University College Dublin.

“UC Dublin didn’t have the same cultural diversity as a place like St. John’s,” McGee said.

After completing his PGDE, McGee moved to Birmingham, Alabama, where he taught at Miami Country Day School and Indian Springs School for six years before moving to Houston with his fiancée, who was pursuing a post-doctorate degree in Neuropsychology. Teaching math at St. John’s was the first opportunity McGee saw when searching for jobs in Houston.

“Math was always my favorite subject,” McGee said. “Even when I was younger, and in high school, I loved helping my friends with math and tutoring them.”

McGee’s students have noted McGee’s desire to help his students succeed.

“He’s very big on emailing you if you have a question on homework,” said freshman Maggie Henneman, one of McGee’s students and advisees. “He really wants to know if you’re struggling. If you’re having a hard time, he wants you to succeed.”