The Student Newspaper of Saint Peter's Prep

The Petroc

The Student Newspaper of Saint Peter's Prep

The Petroc

The Student Newspaper of Saint Peter's Prep

The Petroc

Teacher Feature: Mr. Mergoupis

Teacher Feature: Mr. Mergoupis

In the great state of New Jersey, Prep’s own Mr. Christos Mergoupis was born into a family of heroes and heroines of mythology. Mergoupis is a Prep graduate of Hellenic decent who now teaches Latin at St. Peter’s Preparatory School.

While at Prep, Mr. Mergoupis was an active member of the Prep community taking part in the concert band, intramural sports, Emmaus, and the Classics Club. As a student, Mergoupis admitted that he dearly cherished the interactions between teachers and students in the Prep environment. Mergoupis felt that all of his Prep teachers, as a collective body, were a great influence and inspiration for him as a young student.

After leaving Grand and Warren, Mr. Mergoupis or newly nicknamed “Mr. M,” attended St. Peter’s University where he earned his undergraduate degree. At St. Peter’s University, he was involved in the honor society, with classical studies research, partook in a travel abroad semester and even with intramural sports events. At the end of his college career, Mr. Mergoupis decided to become a Latin teacher because, in his opinion, the greatest honor in life is to instill the love of learning within a student and to inspire that individual to succeed in their endeavors. He came from a long line of educators and always wanted to share his knowledge and experiences of the classics with students. Mr. M exclaimed, “My favorite part of teaching Latin is definitely the analyzing of passages and the deconstruction of grammar within the sentences.”

Before coming to Prep, Mr. M did research in Greece. While in Greece, Mergoupis played a main role in the film, “The Achilleid.” In this film, Mr. Mergoupis played the fierce warrior, Achilles. He did not want to give away any further information about his film or his acting career because he felt it would ruin the pleasure he basks in when he shows the film to his fortunate Latin students at the end of each school year. Mr. Mergoupis is passionate for Greek mythology. His favorite figure is Odysseus, Son of Laertes. “He uses his intellect and reason to overcome challenging obstacles in his life. He is a man of reflection and reason, when he is faced with a period of desolation,” claimed Mergoupis.

To this day, Mr. Mergoupis serves as a student-favorite teacher in the Classics Department at Prep, traveling to school by means of Pegasus. “Yes, the rumors are true,” Mr. Mergoupis facetiously admitted. In his spare time, if he is not fighting mythological beasts, Mr. Mergoupis dedicates his time to preparing lessons for his students and spending time with his family. To this date, his greatest achievement is teaching Classical Attic Greek to the students of Prep. A true man for others!

Lastly,  Mr. Mergoupis was asked to briefly describe how Prep has influenced his life both as a student and as a teacher. Passionately, Mr. M responded, “Prep has been and will always be an important chapter of my life. I have grown much since I was a Prep student, through joys and hardships. Furthermore, I have grown much as a teacher, by becoming more than who I am as an individual and educator of Classical Studies. Prep has inspired me to individually serve my students and help them look beyond the grammar of a classical language, and to behold the rich truth of a golden age of excellence. As an educator, it is my task to make the students strive for intellectual excellence and engage the students in discussions about our past cultures, as well as help them understand the linguistic origins of our societies. In my opinion, that is the key to becoming a great teacher; to inspire a student, cause the student to become passionate, in order for one to reflect, and thus, cause the individual to excel to be the best and use their talents for greatness.”

Mr. Mergoupis has a dear love for Saint Peter’s Prep. This admiration is reciprocated by any student or colleague that has had the pleasure to meet and to know Mr. Mergoupis. We are extremely fortunate to have him with us at Prep now and hopefully for many years to come. We thank Mr. Mergoupis for his insightful, reflective interview and wish him the best of luck in this school year!