Steven Evenhouse graduated from Saint Xavier University in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in mass communication.
After returning to school for an education degree, Evenhouse eventually became an eighth grade U.S. history teacher at Summit Hill Junior High.
He is well regarded by students and colleagues for his lively teaching style and personable character.
Which SXU professor or class did you find most inspiring?
“Politics and film with Dr. Costello was one of my favorites, and then, professionally speaking, what I learned from Professors Walker, McNellis and McAvoy really shaped me into the presenter that I needed to be in order to become a good teacher.”
How did your SXU education help prepare you for your profession?
“A lot of what I teach is research and the ability to read and then translate that into your own words. I think a lot of the writing courses I took, like literature with Dr. Kolich, and also the research skills I developed with Dr. O’Keeffe in Christology have really given me a solid foundation so that I’m able to teach those skills in a junior high setting.”
You were once program director at SXU’s radio station WXAV, and you even had your own show called the B.S. show. Tell us about that.
“I hosted a show with my friend Bill Boehler. It was Bill and Steve in the afternoon, so we called it the B.S. show. We played a pretty wide range of music and then did a lot of sketch type elements. Bill was certainly the live wire, and I was more of the straight man in those jokes. A lot of it involved Bill teasing my staid, reserved nature. We featured a lot of prank calls. For example, we would frequently call people from the classified ads and attempt to barter with them for whatever goods they were trying to unload, seeing if they would accept stolen diamonds for a PlayStation 2.”
You are an avid trivia competitor and actually appeared on the show “Jeopardy.” What was that like?
“It had been a goal to be on that show for a long time. The first time I tried out was for the college tournament when I was at SXU in the 2000s…Almost 10 years after that I finally made the show which was fantastic. I wish I had done a little bit better, but overall to be out there on the show, to meet the other competitors, was pretty awesome even though it was the most nervous I’ve ever been in my whole life.”
What did you find most rewarding at SXU overall?
“I would say the community that was there, including students, professors and everybody else. I felt welcome there, and I felt supported in my goals both by my peers and by the professors that I had. So I think that was pretty necessary for a student like me to have that degree of support.”
Lastly, can you give us a trivia question for the road?
“Sure: Who was the first Jesuit to go to Japan as a missionary?” Answer on Bottom
Tony Bara
News Correspondent
Answer to trivia question: Saint Francis Xavier
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