Mr. Lally, The Scientist

If it wasn’t for Julis Sumner Miller, Mr. Lally would not be the teacher that he is today. “There was a video program on TV when I was a kid called Demonstrations in Physics with Julius Sumner Miller. Julius Sumner Miller was this very peculiar weird old guy, who had a 15-minute program on public television. I got captured by that, I really did…I did not have bad teachers but I did not have teachers that inspired me, he inspired me.”

Besides Miller, Mr. Lally had others who helped him along the way. When Mr. Lally was in 4th grade he had a teacher who gave him a book to read about different science experiments. This book was the start of his path to becoming a scientist. Mr. Lally got inspired to teach physics through that book. By a book! After that, “my grandparents got me a subscription to an experiment of the month club, and I would try out the experiments.” 

Mr. Lally has taught at Jemicy for 5 years. He has done part-time teaching at universities like Johns Hopkins, Towson, and various community colleges. Before teaching at Jemicy, Mr. Lally was a science teacher at The Park School. And before this, he taught for many years in Pittsburgh, PA.

After a student suggested having a robotics club, Mr.Lally was able to start one at Jemicy last year. This club is all about having fun and making a robot and this is going to be the second year of the club. “I hope that we will finish the robot this year.”According to Mr. Lally, “I don’t care about competing, I care about people enjoying it, and hoping to have at least 8-10 people join the club.” The club as of right now has about 5 people, not including Mr. Lally. This year the club is interested in constructing a type of small-scale battlebot, and ideally will have battles between robots.

When I first walked into Mr. Lally’s room this year, I was mesmerized by how many different things there were. It is filled with different physics lab materials and out-of-the-blue things that you would not normally see in a physics classroom. When I walked in, I was left speechless by the stoplight in his room.“I am really fond of that stoplight. Two years ago, I was teaching Physics II, and we learned how to solve vector problems and we did some statics. In order to do that, I remember teaching the class how to do a stoplight problem by using a stoplight.” While he was teaching he said,” Why do I not have a stoplight?” After that class, he went on Craigslist and bought one. 

Other than the stoplight, other favorite objects in his room are ”the lava lamps… best things in the world and in my room.” He has four lava lamps, a small one that has glitter, another small one, a medium size, and a large lava lamp. The large lava lamp is the best one by far. When he turns them on they are the most wonderful things to see. When we are watching a video or doing a scientific experiment, he turns off the lights and the lava lamps are the coolest things to see and watch in the dark. 

Mr. Lally creates a space that people can enjoy and also allows him to do different experiments and have fun. I am so glad that Mr. Lally saw Julius Sumner Miller all these years ago. If he hadn’t then physics would not be as fun as it is now.