Mr P Interview

The headmaster of Jesse Remington High School, Jeffrey Philbrick, discusses his recent evangelism trip to Boston, his love for pond hockey and golf, and his favorite things such as his favorite actor, book, and sports team. He also talks about the growth and future of the school. Welcome to the first ever Remington Roundtable Podcast. The following is a conversation with Jeffrey Philbrick, the headmaster of Jesse Remington High School. We discuss his evangelism trip to Boston, his personal life, his hopes for the future of the school, his favorite celebrity actor, and the state of his golfing career. And so, here is Mr. Philbrick. One, two, three, four! Hey Mr. Philbrick, how's it going? Hi, doing great, Jeff. How are you doing, man? Doing alright. So, tell us about your evangelism trip you had recently. Sure. Yeah, we had a great day. We went into inner city Boston yesterday, down the subway. We had specialized tracks and a way to share with people. And we handed out gospel tracks and tried to have good conversations. We had some really good ones. We had some pretty crazy ones. Yeah, I heard it was a pretty good trip from some of the other students that were on it. It was very good. I heard you might have gotten a police call on you, Warren. It's perhaps true, yeah. Well, on us, I don't know. Me neither. Yeah, so we did. Which I think illustrates kind of where our nation is right now. Maybe, you know, we were there with free speech and they were trying to stop us. But we pressed on. Yeah, yeah. So, what do you think you, like, learned from that experience? How did you grow from it? So, in terms of, like, the evangelism field trip or the encounter with the police? Maybe a little bit of both. Sure, sure. I guess for me, personally, it was interesting that the way God organized these things. We had just had two chapel messages on Great Commission, Great Commandment, Great Commission. And yet, and then 12 days later, I get to go and put that into action to, you know, try to share the gospel with people around me. I think the involvement of the police this time, you know, we've been down there 10 or 12 times. This is the first time the police ever has been involved. I think it's a comment that it's unfortunate where things are. And somebody that we had handed the track to called the police and was trying to get us out of there. The police wanted to just take the easy way out. And primarily, Mr. Somer said, you know what, we have a right to be here. And the police yielded and we stayed. So, Josiah, maybe we got to know our rights and we have to defend them. Yeah. And, you know, there's been some good pawn hockey games recently. Oh, yeah. It's a good year for it. Yeah. It has been. It's a good year for it. And Joey got down in the fire truck and everything out there. How did that happen? Do you have any clue how he got that? Well, so, yes, he's forming some relationships as a young firefighter. And, yes, we had 3,500 gallons of water show up. Wow. Smoothed things over beautifully. We had a big game Sunday afternoon. Yeah, little three-on-three, four-on-four, all different kinds of guys out playing. And it was just super fun. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Sounded like some good hockey. And you grew up, like, right around the pond, right? I did. Yeah. Yeah. So tell us about that. Sure. I've been skating on that pond since I was probably four. Wow. And the kind of hockey we're playing right now is the most organized in my entire career. But, yeah, I know it was a great place to learn to skate there and learn to shoot and just learn to fell in love with the game. But maintaining the pond was, of course, a whole lot of work. Oh, yeah. That takes many people. Yeah. And it's, like, one of your main hobbies outside of school stuff. What else do you do other than teaching and headmastering the school? Yeah. Well, everything's kind of, I guess, focused on the family more or less. I do enjoy a little golf once in a while. I'm not very good, but I enjoy it. I was good. I'm no longer good. I won the long drive competition at the Candia Woods Golf Course, which used to be called Charming Fair when I was 16 years old. But those days are long behind me. And I just enjoy recreational golf, enjoy life on the homestead, and in the winter, pond hockey, snowshoeing, things like that. Yeah. Yeah. And these outdoor activities were a huge part of your childhood. What are some, like, huge highlights from them, something that you always remember back to? Yeah. Yeah. We grew up pretty active. You have to remember that it was long before technology, so you kind of had to form your own form of entertainment. And in some respects, long before, like, kids were raised with so much programming. So we really were, you know, they're now called free-range children. That's, in some respects, how we grew up. But that was fun. We grew up in the neighborhood making our own adventures in and around the land, depending on the time of year. You know, building forts and fires and camping and all kinds of adventures was part of how I grew up. And I like to share that with the students to some extent, as I can. Yeah. So there's been an increasing number of students that are really playing golf. A couple of them have gone out to golf with you and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. The Golf Outdoor Education Club. Okay. You've got to tell them. What's the probability that you bring them out back? Let's see. A cup of coffee or a $20 bill will do a lot. Uh-oh. And no, we should do that. We should. Yeah. We've had some fun right here at this course, the course down in Londonderry. We've got some students. I guess it's all guys, right, that are really enjoying golf. I'll make good on that. We'll find a way to get out there. Who's most likely to beat you? Let's see. I think your brother's kind of up and coming. Oh, really? Yeah. Let's see. For a student, who's most likely to beat me? Yeah. Who's most likely to beat you? On a round of golf. On a round of golf. Yeah. Your name is on the list, Carter. Let's see. How about – didn't Ben Landry – he had a pretty good ball last fall, didn't he? Yeah. He's been playing a lot. Yeah. Do I have to watch out for him? You might have to. Okay. All right. Him and Dylan. Yeah. I'll keep my sights on them. I think they're trying to beat you. Game on. I think you're right. Yeah. All right. I think we're going to switch segments a little bit here and talk about some of your favorite things. Okay. Just in rapid-fire order. Yeah. We've got some rapid-fire questions, maybe one or two sentence answers. I'll give it my best. Let's start here. What's your favorite president? President? Dwight D. Eisenhower. Good man. Got us through World War II. Great president. How about a class to teach? What class brings you the most joy? Probably my American history course. I love it. It's our nation's history, and I try to make it relevant to my students. What about a favorite book? Do you have a book that relates to that favorite class to teach? Oh, absolutely. My favorite book is Herman Melville's Moby Dick, set in the 1840s. I think it offers just a power pack, a worldview, and history all in one. Awesome story. Your class is very familiar with your favorite actor. Why don't you re-familiarize some people who aren't? Who is his favorite actor? Sure. Sure. He's a stud. He's an Englishman. Come on. He's talented. He's gorgeous. He's got the whole package. Right? He's kind of broad. Shakespearean actor. He's got other great films as well, too. I admire the man. I think he's been knighted, actually. Yeah. Yeah. So maybe that's on my bucket list to get knighted by the new kings. Unlikely, but I'm going to put it on there anyway. Yeah. Staying on this school topic, what's your favorite event in the school? Okay. I think we could safely say the annual mission trip. I don't think I've ever missed one. I love it. It's a highlight for me. It's a highlight to lead. It's a highlight to watch the student response. What's your favorite professional sports team? Professional sports team. Not the New England Patriots. Not the Kansas City Chiefs. So you won't accept Olympic for my answer? I'm not going to accept Olympic. Okay. We're going to go to Boston Bruins. I've always been there. Yep. And how about that Olympic team? Sure. The 1980 Olympic hockey team is a dream team for me. Favorite story in sports? Probably. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely is. I lived it, and I just think it's a great story of human achievement against all odds. What's your favorite pizza topping? Pizza topping? Probably a little bit unusual. You know, the Greek, the feta had some spinach, so not a red sauce. So the white pizza, that's number one for me. All right. A couple more questions here. If you could have any job, if you weren't a headmaster, what job would you have? This is just based on what you'd want to do. Yeah. Not on what you'd be good at, but if you could do anything. Wow. Struggling a little bit on this one, because I've never had to really contemplate this since it's been my career right at the get-go. My grandmother said to me, I was probably about 18 years old, she says, well, you'd make a great educator. If not an educator, maybe the President of the United States. I'm going to go with that right there. Okay. It's a pretty good one. Yeah. All right. So a little more theoretical question. If you could travel to the past, where would you want to live for a week? Yeah. Will you accept two answers? In either order, I'm going to go 1840s America. I think it's a great time in our history. But I'd also like to live right at the start of the Reformation, right at the early, early 1500s. So much was going on in the world then. I wouldn't want to stay in either one. About a week? Yeah. Really good. We're up to a close. Why don't we close with how do you think the school has changed, developed, and where do you hope it's going to go in the future? Right. Right. Well, it has broadened. It has deepened its roots. It has become so much stronger. So the school that you guys have today is just so much more developed than the school of even just five years ago or, of course, 35 years ago. So I think God appoints and allows different programs to work. So the program of, say, 1995 would never work in 2025. Right. I hope it's the same for the future. I hope the school of 2035 will continue that maturation. It will continue to grow in strength and ability and in a way to raise up young guys like you to be effective leaders of Christ through this ministry. So that's my life's goal, my heart's desire. Well, Mr. Philbuck, thank you for spending your time with us. It's been great having you. We'll see you on the next one. Hope to have you again soon. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Three, two, one, go.