Mr. Ojala summary: 
  I am fortunate to enjoy an important and honorable profession in an area of life that I have always enjoyed and that is focused on people making more of themselves.  If my students enjoy school (especially science) and learn new things to a similar degree that I do, then we will all be well-informed and our scientific literacy will allow us to understand and speak to scientific issues and topics past, present, and future.  Some of the greatest role models in my life have been outstanding teachers whose excitement about their subject matter and decidication to their craft made me want to follow in their lead.

   I grew up in the Missoula area, starting school in Lolo and attending MCPS schools from the fourth grade through high school.  I attended college in Montana, earning degrees in Forestry and Biology Education from the University of Montana in 1998 and 2004 respectively.  I worked a few different jobs in and around that time, but really longed for and worked towards a career where true change and growth happen every day; the importance of being educated must never be underestimated.  I received my Masters in Science Education in 2014, and consider myself very much a lifelong learner.

   I taught for a year in central Montana at the beginning of my career, followed by five years in southern California, but landed my dream job in the summer of 2010.  Hellgate High School is where I graduated back in 1991, and where I am very fortunate to be able to make science a part of student lives here each day.  My life is made to be deluxe when you take into account my wonderful wife and daughter, both of whom are education stars and adventurous souls.  Outside of school we enjoy spending time under our beautiful Big Sky and travelling beyond it as well.  I enjoy my nerdy pursuits indoors, and am also an avid disc golfer with the help of my furry friend.