Meet Mark Doyle. He's not your typical teacher

By Samantha Carter

Teen correspondent

Computers assembled on desks in a row, colorful, inspirational quotes taped to the walls and a teacher's desk piled high with books and papers sound like a typical high school classroom.

This room, though, houses an instructor who's far from typical.

Mark Doyle.

This 10th-grade English teacher at Landstown High School in Virginia Beach is paraplegic.

Every day Doyle, 37, shows his students what it means to overcome adversity.

"He helped me to see that no matter what you go through, whether it's on a large scale or even on a small scale, with any obstacle you can get past it if you just work hard and don't let those things get you down," said rising junior Paris Lucas.

Nearly 15 years ago Doyle was enjoying life by living on the Outer Banks, doing construction and surfing. He'd lasted only three months as an accountant after graduating college.

But on Halloween 1993, Doyle was catching some of the best surfing of his life when he "swung into one wave, and as I was in the barrel, the wave sucked me into the face, so I had to dive for it."

The incident left him paralyzed from the waist down with only partial use of his hands.

After a long and difficult rehabilitation, Doyle persevered by going back to Virginia Wesleyan College to get his teacher's certification.

Life behind a desk wasn't for him. Interacting with children was what he wanted to do.

Over the seven years Doyle has taught at Landstown, he has earned admiration and respect from staff and students.

"In the four years that I have been here he has never asked for any special treatment," said Landstown Principal Brian Baxter. "He takes what you and I would perceive as a disability and makes that his strength."

By using an overhead projector mounted on the ceiling, Doyle can type on a computer and have his words projected on the wall for students.

"What you and I could once do on a chalkboard he can do on the computer," Baxter said.

But it's not the technology that keeps the students interested in Doyle's class - it's the teacher.

"I look forward to coming to English; other classes I dread," rising junior Darien Cox, laughing.

Doyle likes to be hands-on and get personal with his teens.

Rising junior Blake Izaguirre describes how he gets a dialogue going with his students:

Doyle shows the teenagers how even something as presumably dated as the 16th century book "The Prince" by Niccolo Machiavelli can still relate to their lives today.

It would be easier for Doyle to hand out worksheets to make a point about a subject, but he isn't much for the easy route.

Instead he requires the students to get up and help teach the class, whether it's by making a slide show or answering questions. Staying silent is not an option in Doyle's class.

As the last bell of the day rings and the high schoolers shuffle out of the room, Doyle's lessons will resonate with his students long after the school day's done.

As a quote by Frederick Douglass that hangs on his classroom wall says: "Without a struggle there can be no progress."

Anything is possible.

Especially if you have an attitude like Mark Doyle's.

"I have a loving and supportive family, friends I can always count on, a fiancee that's my best friend and a job that I love.

"Not too many people are so lucky."

Samantha Carter, a rising junior at Hickory High School in Chesapeake, iamsam757@yahoo.com