The Solon Schools have welcomed 22 new faculty members into the community for the 2024-25 year. The 22 faculty members brought on board for this year include classroom teachers, music and physical education teachers and interventionists, as well as speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists. Out of those 22 individuals, Connor McMahon received a welcome here at Solon High School.
McMahon teaches Financial Literacy in the classroom while also specializing in coaching wrestlers on the mats. He has been around wrestling for a majority of his life and knows the do’s and don’ts around wrestling. McMahon was a coaching assistant at Kent Roosevelt before getting his head coaching job at John Glenn High School in New Concord. This year is his 8th year in coaching and his 6th year as a head coach.
Wrestler, Adom Sharpley, said he believes coach McMahon will do great things for our wrestling team this season and will bring appreciable benefits to Solon.
“So far it’s been great to finally have some consistency because over the years, we’ve had multiple different wrestling coaches, and it feels nice to know that we will have McMahon for a while,” Sharpley said. “He has a great attitude and never misses a practice. He is always there for us and just wants the best for us.”
Junior Peyton Hnottavange, who has McMahon in the classroom, said McMahon brings great benefits to our school district.
“I like how he’s really engaging and interactive in the classroom,” Hnottavange said. “He uses a lot of different teaching methods to keep us involved.”
McMahon said he wanted to move back closer to his family which brought him here to Solon and he thinks Solon will fulfill his needs.
“I got married this summer, and my wife and I are from this area, and we’d spent a number of years in Southeast Ohio and wanted to move back closer to our family,” McMahon said. “I was looking for a school that had a wrestling coach and teaching position. Solon met those needs for me and is a fantastic school district.”
McMahon said since he was a horrible student in high school that made him really make his decision on becoming a teacher.
“I had teachers who judged me a lot, and I wanted kids like me to have a teacher who could understand them better and not think that they are a bad person just because they cannot stop talking,” McMahon said. “I just also, you know, love social studies and could talk about it all day.”
Hnottavange also said how McMahon is very passionate towards the subject in the classroom which creates a great environment for the students.
“He’s a very positive light when teaching Financial Literacy, and I feel like that helps us a lot while he teaches,” Hnottavange said.
McMahon said that even with such little time he has been here so far, he has noticed a change from the other schools and programs he was previously at.
“I have not been here that long, but I will add that my favorite part about being here so far is the teacher camaraderie and with that, the students here are dedicated to learn which is definitely different from the last school I was at,” McMahon said. “That is something to definitely look at as an achievement and a big step forward.”
