Students typically expect their history teacher to be intellectual, diligent, responsible and a college graduate.  Mason Williams meets all of this criteria except for one: he is a third grader at Kitty Hawk Elementary School. On Nov. 6 Mason attended Lisa Duke’s American History classes, not as a student, but as a guest speaker to discuss Naval History.

“Mason became very interested in the Navy through spending a lot of time with his grandfather, who was our primary babysitter,” Mason’s father Chad Williams, the Technology Facilitator at FFHS said.  “My wife’s dad was also retired from the Navy, as were both his father and my mother in law’s father. So there were a lot of naval stories passed down to him; he started with a general interest in just naval things especially things like the Titanic. He then grew into the WWII stuff and became interested in specific battles and boats and ships. His room is decorated with drawn pictures of every ship that there is in the navy and he is just infatuated with the Navy.”

Accompanied by Mr. Williams, Mason came into Duke’s classes to give a presentation on battles, military ships and aircrafts, a hobby his grandfather inspired him to learn.

“Well I became so interested in the Navy because my grandfather and he has told me a lot of stories about his time in the Navy. Its been kind of fun really,” Mason said. “Studying this stuff has been giving me a lot of privileges, like I’ve been aboard the USS North Carolina and the Wisconsin. So yeah, its given me some pretty interesting privileges, such as this right now, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for that.”

Throughout the day, Mason had followed the regular schedule, going to lunch and teaching four classes. Spending the day at FFHS was definitely an adjustment coming from Kitty Hawk Elementary School.

“My school is considered a small fry compared to this school,” Mason said. “I would consider coming in and doing another presentation but I would never consider being a teacher. Have you seen those teacher salaries?”

After discussing their family relations to the Navy, Duke decided that she could not help but ask him to teach her classes during the week of Veterans Day week.

“Last summer I was in here doing some work and Mason and I sat down, we were talking and in the course of the discussion he was telling me about the time he spent with his grandpa that summer,” Duke said. “He was talking about aircraft carriers and we were discussing how my father was in the Navy and I went on some dependents cruises and Mason got really excited, so we started talking about aircraft carriers. It was during this exchange I realized he was a remarkable young man and I thought it would be really cool if he came in and talked to my class. ”

During his presentations, Mason showed a PowerPoint, multiple videos and passed around authentic Navy gear given to him by his grandfather.

“It was really cool to see the students actually interacting with Mason, since of course he is in third grade,” Duke said. “I think it is really neat that Mason has had the opportunity to spend this summer with his grandfather and have his family nurture this interest in him. He really loves military transportation, he is a great military historian and I see great great things in his future.”

Mason hopes to continue his interest in the Navy through teaching others and eventually following his grandfather’s lead.

“I really think that it is amazing that I got to come in and do this. I think its been really fun too, its not something you get to do everyday,” said Mason. “My grandfather was the radio and radar officer in the navy. When I grow up I plan on going into the Navy, therefore going to Annapolis and all that stuff. I’m extremely excited.”

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