Mr. O’Grady teaches various history and humanity classes at Rocky Mountain High School and is also the Unified Flag Football and Unified Basketball coach. O’Grady has been at teacher for five years now and has been teaching at Rocky for his whole teaching career. He was born and raised in Fort Collins, Colorado, before moving to Kentucky for college.

O’Grady went to the University of Louisville in Kentucky, but because of his love for family, he moved back to his home, Fort Collins, and transferred to Colorado State University where he finished up his degree. “My undergrad degrees are in history and political science and then I have my Masters in education,” he said.

O’Grady explained how he went to college knowing that he wanted to make money. “I went to a place where I didn’t know anybody. I was the only person I knew, so I felt like I really got to have a fresh start. I created who I was and realized I didn’t want to be a person that lived for myself; I wanted to live for other people. So I just started looking for ways that I could use my life to benefit other people’s lives. I came back to Colorado and started working with kids with autism and did behavior training and community engagement with them. I just love the ability to make lives better and see people grow in their confidence and I just became addicted to that and that’s when I knew I should start teaching.”

When asked about Rocky he said, “Rocky is focused on community. I’ve gone other places that are not based on that and it sucks the life out of you because I think at Rocky we try really hard to build bonds between other people instead of just doing what we are told to do and being jerks about it. It just aligns with what I believe and also because it’s home. Because it allows me to give back to the community that made me who I am and the reason I get to enjoy my life as much as I do is because the way people loved me; I want to do that for other people.”

O’Grady’s wife also works at Rocky as a counselor for freshmen and with a focus on substance abuse with students. “I enjoy working at the same place as my wife because we get to share our passions and help students which we love.” Even though they do not get to see each other often while working, they enjoy having this experience and sharing it with their two kids. “We get to bring our kids to work related things like Trick-or-Treat Street and involve them in what is home to us.”

O’Grady loves to share and connect with his students. No one can hear him teaching and hear his students laughing in class without laughing themselves.

O’Grady can be found in San Juan, Room 316, or in his office in the Maroon Bells teacher’s office. Go say “hi” to O’Grady because he would love to get to know every student and have everyone participate in fun activities for laughs and learning experiences.