By Seth DuChene
with photography by Bernard Clark
Teachers are famous — or perhaps notorious, depending on perspective — for handing out homework.
What’s often forgotten, however, is that the best teachers have done their own homework in order to pass on that knowledge to the next group of students. That fact certainly isn’t lost on Paul Van Nest.
An avowed lifelong learner, Paul is always preparing for his next class, talk, presentation or lecture, methodically gathering facts and findings to enlighten his audience, whatever audience that happens to be. Whether it is a tutorial on how to use Zoom, a detailed examination of the Battle of Gettysburg or a cautionary discussion on how to avoid being the victim of a scam, Paul has all the information down, and he’s ready to share what he’s learned. Even years after being the head of the technical department at St. Lawrence College, he is as busy as ever.
Paul was born and raised in Brantford, Ontario. “I had a wonderful childhood,” he says. “I have one sister, Nancy, who is three years younger. We were far enough apart that we got along well; there weren’t too many rivalries that she or I remember.”
His father, John, was a teacher at Brantford Collegiate Institute, and that’s where Paul attended his first three years of high school. . . .
