Mark Thompson is one of the new members of the staff at Gibson Southern High School. He is an Air Force veteran, a father and a husband. He has three boys who attend Sts. Peter and Paul School. Thompson attended Gibson Southern High School, where he played basketball, baseball, soccer and ran one year of cross country.

_____

Southerner: What is your job at the high school?

Thompson: “I am the head custodian at the high school.”

Southerner: What does your day consist of?

Thompson: “I get here early in the morning, check my emails, check my notes to see if your night custodians left any, if anything was broken. I unlock everything that needs to be unlocked, and then usually I will try to hit the stuff that’s wrong in the classrooms before you guys get here, so I’ll start at 6 a.m. If someone has something that they need worked on, I will start on that.”

Southerner: What makes a good day at school?

Thompson: “Everyday has been a good day, for the most part. Everybody around here has a positive attitude. I’ve never worked around a school before, but it’s nice and refreshing. You guys are all really young and have lots of enthusiasm. And, if I got everything done that I needed done and more, that’s a great day.”

Southerner: If you were to be given a superlative when you were in school, what would it have been?

Thompson: “Well, I was our class president. I had a lot of fun when I was here and played a lot of sports. But, I don’t know what I would’ve voted for.”

Southerner: Do you do anything special now because you were the class president in high school?

Thompson: “Most of the time, no. Some of the other officers kind of coordinate reunions and such, but we haven’t done anything in the past five or so years.”

Southerner: How long would you survive a zombie apocalypse? Why?

Thompson: “A few days. Well, it depends on if I had my family with me or if it was just me. If my family was with me, I wouldn’t be looking out for just me, and I wouldn’t last as long. If It was just me, I would probably last a very long time. I would have to worry about just me and wouldn’t have my kids to feed.”

Southerner: Do you see your career changing anytime in the future?

Thompson: “Probably not. I started out, I went into the military after high school. And then I went to Gibson County Coal, and I started doing maintenance there. Then I went to Toyota and started doing maintenance there. And then this job came open, and I decided to take it. I’m pretty sure I’m gonna just ride this out. That’s the plan anyway.”

Southerner: Can you tell me more about your work history?

Thompson: “When I graduated from here, I went to college for a little while but I basically ran out of money. So, I went into the Air National Guard. We went to Maine, Canada, Germany, Iceland, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Hawaii, California and more. There, I was in the 123rd engineering wing, and I did electrical power production. I was there for 10 years and did Gibson County Coal at the same time.”

Southerner: What is your motivation/inspiration?

Thompson: “My motivation now is my children, getting them through and seeing them off to be adults.”

Southerner: How many people are in your family?

Thompson: “I have three boys: one is in pre-school, one is in first grade and one’s in second grade and my wife, who is an engineer at Toyota.”

Southerner: Who is your personal hero or role model?

Thompson: “Probably my father.”

Southerner: Is there a quote or saying that you live your life by?

Thompson: “No, not off the top of my head.”

Southerner: What would you do with your money after winning the lottery?

Thompson: “I would put it in high yield stocks. I would spread it out between high yield stocks and high yield ETFs (exchange traded funds). Say, if you won $100,000 and you get a stock that has an 8% dividend, that’s $8,000 cash. If you won a million dollars and you put it in a stock with an 8% dividend, you would get 80,000 dollars in cash, like a paycheck.”

Southerner: What was your dream job as a child?

Thompson: “Probably Toyota maintenance.”

Southerner: Do you have any hobbies or hidden talents that no one knows you enjoy?

Thompson: “Yeah. I do astrophotography, I take pictures of the sky.”

Southerner: What all goes into your astrophotography?

Thompson: “You start out with a tripod and just any camera with manual settings. And, like  anything else, you just practice and get better at it as you go. Then you can buy a new piece of gear, or a new lens to use. I have two cameras that I use.”