After taking five years of Latin in high school in South Africa, Latin and history teacher Clifford Hull entered college with no plans of ever taking another Latin course. However, a college class sparked a new enthusiasm for the language, and he resolved to pursue a career in teaching to spread his love for Latin.

“I came out of that very first lesson, and I said to my girlfriend, ‘I’m going to become a Latin teacher,’” Hull said. “I thought, ‘This is what I want to do,’ and I’ve never looked back. I’m really glad I did what I did.”

This year, he retires, marking the end of a forty-seven-year career doing just that.

Hull’s teaching journey started in South Africa, then took him to Indiana and finally the Bay Area, where he instructed Latin at Harker for the past 10 years. Although he taught at the college level, Hull appreciates Harker Latin students’ dedication to the language, which allowed him to go further in depth with each text they read.

“I was blown away by the work ethic of the students,” Hull said. “Teaching Latin, I’m teaching the crème de la crème of the crème de la crème. I used to teach at the college level, and I found that the students here were better prepared and better versed at Latin, so we were not tinkering with the mechanics of the language, but we were really reading it and enjoying it for what it was meant to be.”

Back in Indiana, in addition to teaching Latin during the day, Hull also taught topics like ancient Greek, Roman culture and classical mythology at a local university during the night. Now, he infuses his knowledge on these subjects into his Honors Advanced Latin Literature (HALL) classes in the form of mini lectures at the end of each semester.

Senior Harriss Miller, who has taken every one of the HALL courses (Epic, Lyric Poetry, Prose and Satire), highlighted Hull’s flexibility and eagerness to share his interests, whether through lecturing on Greek or ancient inscriptions.

“There is a freedom that is unique to his teaching style,” Harriss said. “Everything he puts into Latin, he puts double into Greek. It’s super fun to see him go through it and teach us something that feels more personal; it feels like he’s making his whole lesson plan with us in mind and thinking about how best he can share his passion.”

Even though Hull has taught for many years, he still encounters new surprises each year. He especially cherishes the moments when his students point out something new about the language or a work of literature that he has never considered before.

“My Honors Advanced Latin Literature classes were really exceptional because the students also taught the classes,” Hull said. “They were given lessons to prepare, and they would come in and teach the class. I would be sitting there, and I’ve gone through lots of graduate school, and I would’ve never thought about approaching that piece of work like that.”

Senior Eric Zhang fondly recalled how he first met Hull in sophomore year: one day, while Eric was sitting in the hallway, Hull invited him inside his classroom and offered him a cup of hot chocolate. Eric later took HALL in his junior and senior years and was moved by Hull’s enthusiasm when teaching each class.

“Mr. Hull just exudes so much passion and also love,” Eric said. “He really is, to me, what it means when people say you should love your job. When you say he loves teaching, he genuinely does, every day. He’s just so passionate about having us experience a sense of that excitement that you get from learning. When you see his face just filled with joy and excitement, it inspires us so much.”

Outside of Latin, Hull has also taught Honors World History 1 for the past 10 years.  Since a young age, he has been fascinated with archeology, leading him to pursue a Master’s in archeology in graduate school and go on digs in search of artifacts. He recounted his experience digging at a site in Caesarea Maritima, where he found his first relic — a vase more than 1,500 years old.

“That feeling that I’m the first person in 1,500 years to touch that after it had been dropped by someone just made it so magical,” Hull said. “When you see something like that, and you feel something that’s 2,000 years old, 3,000 years old, it’s like an electric current that runs through me.”

Hull’s love for archeology inspired his fascination for history. Each of these artifacts serves as a gateway connecting him to the past.

“In my mind, everything that I found was just so exciting because that’s what makes history alive to me,” Hull said. “There’s a piece of pottery that I have where you can clearly see that the person who made the pot made an indentation of their thumb in the clay. I always take that and I hold it up to the students, and I tell them, ‘Put your finger in there, and you’re touching a spot that someone had touched 1,500 years ago, 1,600 years ago.’ They’re always very, very excited about that.”

Whether he’s teaching a class or chatting with someone in the hallways, Hull approaches each moment and interaction wholeheartedly. English Department Chair Pauline Paskali, who is Hull’s neighbor both in the Main building and outside of school, treasures his thoughtfulness towards each member of the Harker community.

“One of the most wonderful things about him is how kind he is to others,” Dr. Paskali said. “He’s always writing notes to people to show appreciation and gratitude for all of the various things that they do. He highlights how important it is to be considerate to others and to go out of your way to help others. I’ll miss his positive, supportive, thoughtful contributions to the entire school community.”

After retiring, Hull looks forward to traveling with his family and reading new Latin and Greek texts to “keep the brain active.” However, he will miss the everyday interactions with his students.

“My biggest reward is when the students have these ‘aha’ moments when I show them something and they’re like, ‘Holy cow, I never thought about that,” Hull said. “I want them to feel excited about learning. Even if it’s one little thing that they’ve learned that day and they can go home and share it with their parents, I’m really very happy and excited about that.”