Both of senior Brenna Norton’s parents studied at Greenhill, so when she enrolled her freshman year, they were excited she was going to have the experience of being taught by Dean of Students Jack Oros.
“You’re going to love Mr. Oros, he was our favorite teacher at the school,” Norton’s mom said.
In May, Norton will be graduating with Oros as her advisor, 2024 being both of their last year at Greenhill.
After working at Greenhill for 35 years with various jobs in addition to Dean of Students, including Upper School advisor and math teacher, Oros is set to retire at the end of the 2023-2024 school year.
“I have been teaching for 44 years, 35 of them here at Greenhill,” Oros said. “I’ve been dean for 12 [years] and it’s time for me to step back and do something else. It’s time for me to hand over the reins.”
When he first started teaching at Greenhill, the school was a lot smaller than it is today.
“[When I joined] the Upper School had about 350 students as opposed to 500,” Oros said.
At the time, he was close to his students in age, which he says was interesting.
“I was the young teacher, and a lot of the other teachers were a lot older,” Oros said. “But now I’m the old one.”
As Dean of Students, Oros oversees all aspects of student life in the Upper School. He manages over 40 clubs, the student council and other miscellaneous activities including school dances.
“[When] kids are late to class, I oversee all the detentions and take care of those,” Oros said.
One of Oros’ former students, Head of Upper School Math Department Darryn Sandler ’95 has been teaching math for 25 years at Greenhill and also attended as a student. During his freshman year of Upper School, Oros was Sandler’s Honors Geometry teacher and taught him again in his junior year for Pre-Calculus.
“[Oros is] definitely one of the most patient teachers that I’ve ever seen,” Sandler said. “It always impresses me how it doesn’t matter how difficult the students are finding the material, he just will find multiple ways to explain it to the students to accommodate different learning styles.”
Norton is not only in Oros’ advisory but was also in his Pre-Calculus class. She says that Oros connects to and cares about each of his students. Norton said that in class, Oros slowed down the pace when necessary to make sure that everyone understood the material.
“He was definitely the best math teacher I’ve ever had,” Norton said. “I know that my class had a lot of people that didn’t like math and it was a slower math class, but everyone liked math after they had class with him.”
Norton’s junior year, Oros became her advisor.
As an advisor, Oros says there are many valuable lessons and opportunities.
“The connections that I have with the advisory, the relationships that you get with the students and with the parents, the families, [are] a great opportunity to teach not only math but all life skills,” Oros said.
Outside of his work, Oros sings, bakes and tutors students from other schools in the Dallas metroplex, which he plans to continue once retiring from Greenhill. One time, Norton and her advisory enjoyed watching him sing during the Carmina Burana Holiday Performance, and they plan on going to the rest of his shows as well.
“He’s a really good advisor,” Norton said. “He always cooks for us on birthdays and during holidays. He always checks in with each of us individually, and he really cares about each member of the advisory and he makes it fun for us.”
Oros also brings a smile to students’ faces every Tuesday or Wednesday on “Bagel Day,” where he sells bagels for a dollar each and turns the remaining bagels into homemade bagel chips sold the following week.
In June, this chapter of Oros’ role in Greenhill history will conclude, and students say his absence will leave a void.
“I just think that this school will never be the same without him,” Norton said. “I think that it’ll definitely be different, and I just hope that the student life will continue to be as fun and exciting as it is right now because I think he has a big part in that.”
Sandler echoes this sentiment.
“I mean, I’ve known him since I was 15 years old, so it will feel like a piece of Greenhill is missing,” Sandler said. “I know he had a tremendous impact on a lot of students that he’s had in class, just the connection he’s made with them over the years, and I think people will be sad to not have him here, but I’m sure he’ll be around.”
Oros says he cannot pinpoint just one thing he loves about Greenhill.
“[I love] everything [about Greenhill],” Oros said. “The students, their willingness to work, the colleagues that I work with. Greenhill puts out a good product. We do what we say [we’re going to do] and the kids that leave here go on to do some great things.”
As the 2023-2024 school year continues, Oros says he is experiencing the joy of being a part of the Greenhill community for the last time before he takes off on another path.
“[I am] sad, bittersweet,” Oros said. “It’s time but it’ll be very difficult to leave. Again, the relationships with students, relationships with my peers, [I’ll miss] the people. Adults and kids, I will miss that. I’ll miss all this mess that’s in my life. Thanks for a great 35 years.”
