Michael Niu joined Canterbury in September as its newest Latin teacher. He graduated from Dickinson College with a degree in Classical Studies last spring.
Several things drew Mr. Niu to Canterbury – one of which was Ms. Vuchinich, math teacher and a fellow graduate of Dickinson, who reached out to him. He came to visit Canterbury and was greeted with a warm welcome. This welcome, combined with the beautiful campus, was very enticing and brought Mr. Niu to Canterbury.
Mr. Niu is the sole teacher of Latin at Canterbury, teaching all four levels, including the honors sections of both III and IV. This too played a factor in his decision to come to Canterbury because he believed this variety of classes would provide him with a broad range of students from different grades.
Outside of the classroom, Mr. Niu is one of the coaches for our water polo team. Coaching water polo, along with having such great co-coaches, are the two things he enjoys the most at Canterbury right now. Coaching brings great joy to Mr. Niu, as it gives him a chance to get back in the game. He himself played water polo in high school but was unable to continue his career in college.
Coaching also presents him with challenges, however, since he is new to the job. This can be quite nerve-wracking at times, he says, such as when he is put in charge of the team when the other coaches are absent. However, Mr. Niu says the other coaches have been very helpful because they make it easy to learn and are great role models for coaching.
In his free time, Mr. Niu likes to play golf and sometimes finds himself on the golf course with Canterbury’s own golf coach and English teacher, Mr. Potter. He also enjoys cooking, watching Netflix, and listening to a variety of music on Spotify, ranging from Disney soundtracks to catchy pop songs, or even classic rock. Mr. Niu also enjoys traveling and has previously studied in Rome. As one of five children, he has family in Malaysia and Singapore, which gives him the opportunity to travel to those places. He describes Southeast Asia as a really “cool” place to visit.
Mr. Niu also wants to say, “Take Latin!”
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