With the 2025-26 school year well underway, many Chaminade students have noticed a few changes around the school. Most high school students are familiar with Mr. Burdge, who was previously a geometry teacher, and now is the Associate Principal for Student Formation. However, not many know his background or much about his personal life. In an interview with Mr. Burdge, Chaminade C&W staff member Mason Wedding got to know more about Mr. Burdge and his life outside of school.
We started off by asking how his year has been going so far and he said: “It has been going really, really good, a lot of the students have been taught by me, and they know how I work, and they are questioning ‘Can I do this? Can I not do this?’ which is a sign that they respect the process and understand where we are coming from. It has been a very positive start to the year.”
Mr. Burdge himself went to Chaminade and graduated Class of ’89, and he told us a bit about what has changed at Chaminade since then and when he started teaching: “I remember my first day walking on campus as a new-hire, and the house system just jumps out at me, and seeing every student in different colors and the school spirit is pretty inspiring and awesome to see. Now that we have middle schoolers hanging out with freshmen and seniors and they all get along with each other, I think that has been a huge win for the culture of our school.”
A lot of students know Mr. Burdge as a soccer fan and a coach. He told us about where his love for soccer began and its part in his life: “I’ve been playing all my life, I played all through high school at Chaminade, I played varsity as a sophomore, and I went and played at SLU. I’ve just always had a love of it, and I grew up watching Soccer Made in Germany on Channel 9. It’s just been something that I’ve loved and followed all my life, and now I’m continuing to coach the Chaminade JV soccer team this year.”
Other students, including staff member Mason Wedding, know Mr. Burdge after having taken his geometry class, and when asked why he became a geometry teacher and if he misses it, he said: “Oh I miss it, I’ve popped in the classroom a couple times this year, and the teachers said ‘Oh he misses this’ and I do. My role this year is a lot about counseling and teaching, it’s not just handing out discipline and consequences. I want to teach the kids how to become the men they need to be. I’ve always had a love for math and logic, and making connections; I’ve always been that way. I love puzzles and figuring things out.”
Mr. Burdge then told us a little bit about his hobbies outside of school and how he spends his free time: “I love puzzles, any kind of puzzles, you put a jigsaw puzzle in front of me, it’s hard to get away from. I love games, I like card games, and I’m a competitive person, so when I sit down to play, it’s fun, but I’m trying to win every time. I like games that make you think with logic. I am a huge outdoors person, I run trails and hike trails just about every weekend, and I’ve been to the Grand Canyon three times, and I’ve hiked it rim to rim in one day. I enjoy the outdoors, and in my free time I don’t think about work too much, and I don’t carry my job through to my free time too much.”
Mr. Burdge shared one particular lesson he tries to leave his students and athletes with: “It’s kind of both, but everything is bigger than yourself, you’re always part of a team, and trying to be an individual and do things that benefit you, in the long run, doesn’t benefit the team. And that’s similar to what I do in school here. Your decisions are connected to other decisions. A phrase I like to use is ‘Inside every student is a better one.’ And part of my job is to help them find that, and not to be focused on individual stuff, and we are trying to build you up so you can give back to the community. This is a special place and it’s got a lot of good things to it, so the more you participate the better experience you’ll have here.”
He then told us some more about how he defines his success, and what exactly tells him he is doing his job right: “Like with my role this year, just having kids say hello and stop by and say hi, even when I have to discipline, they’re not angry or mad at me, they get it, because we walk through the reasons why and they’re in a better place in the long run. I think that the fact that students still want to stop by, say hi, and mess around, that’s a part of relationship building and part of the goal. People let me know, and I don’t do things for recognition, but I just notice the reduction in tardies, for example, or when the building is cleaner. Every night I go home and wonder what I could have done better, so there is a lot of self-reflection.”
We asked Mr. Burdge if there was one thing students or teachers might not know about him that he would like to share and he said: “Some students do know, but I like bird watching. I point out birds and look at birds, and when I go hiking, I usually have my binoculars in my backpack so I can birdwatch. It’s a small thing, but I enjoy it, and I started doing it when I lived in California, because my college roommate was a birder from Omaha.”
Mr. Burdge shared a little more about his personal life when we asked what he considers to be some of his best accomplishments: “My best accomplishment would be my two kids, Caroline and Cole. Caroline is a senior at Dayton, and has had a wonderful experience there, and I think she’s got a really good head on her shoulders. Cole, having been here through 6th grade and just seeing him grow, I’m very proud of them and where they are and where they’ve come, and I can see their potential. It’s not really an accomplishment of mine but I can just see that they are growing up to be the people they should be. Work-wise, I don’t have one biggest accomplishment, so seeing kids grow and seeing their daily wins like them understanding the proofs chapter. That’s what I miss about teaching Geometry, when kids would come in one way sophomore year and leave with more knowledge and maturity.”
Mr. Burdge’s answers and advice remind us that the students of Chaminade are in good hands. Hopefully readers will have a better understanding of who Mr. Burdge is, both in and outside of school. If you see Mr. Burdge in the hallways, ask him about his experience at the Grand Canyon, or about which birds he has seen recently.
