Most teachers choose their subject. For Mr. Daniel Mullarkey, psychology chose him. Step into his classroom and you can immediately sense his curiosity about people and what drives their behavior. His lessons go far beyond textbooks and tests, encouraging students to see the world through a psychological lens. Yet, as he put it, “It wasn’t planned. I wasn’t a big fan in college, but I married someone who had a master’s degree in psychology.”

After Mrs. Nancy Craig retired, no one volunteered to take over the psychology position. Mr. Mullarkey decided to give it a try, not knowing it would completely change his perspective. “I’ve been teaching for about seven or eight years now,” he said. “I was pleasantly surprised. It opened my eyes to see the world from a different point of view.”

This year he’s also teaching AP Economics, a new challenge that has tested his patience and adaptability. “AP Econ has been tough,” he admitted. “It’s not an easy course to learn and teach at the same time. It’s like taking an old man and putting him in the gym every day to work out.” Despite the workload, he calls it a “beautiful challenge,” one that’s pushed him to think in new ways.

Before becoming a teacher, Mr. Mullarkey studied military history at Gettysburg College and later earned his master’s in that field. Over time, he began to notice how his interests in psychology and economics both tie back to a single idea: human behavior. “They’re both studies of how people think and act,” he explained. “Psychology looks at the mental and emotional side of daily life, while economics focuses on how people behave with money and make decisions about paying their bills.” Looking back on his early college years, he confesses that he didn’t fall in love with psychology because he didn’t believe he was socially mature enough yet.

Among the many topics he teaches, one figure that stands out as his favorite is Sigmund Freud. “He’s the pioneer,” Mr. Mullarkey stated. “A lot of psychologists believed he was the black sheep because he didn’t follow the scientific method, but the shift he brought to humanity puts him up there with Einstein.” He even compares Freud’s theories to ancient philosophy. “He’s similar to Plato in the way he believed human behavior works. I agree that childhood anxiety shapes the way you see the world.”

Over the years, Mr. Mullarkey has developed a calm and empathetic approach to teaching. “We all have a drag in this life,” he reflected. “We’re all on a quest. When a student flips out or gets a bit aggressive, it’s usually not about what’s happening now. It’s something from the last 24 hours or the last week. So I don’t get caught up in back and forths.”

That patience comes from his own experience struggling with the subject years ago. “I was lost in psychology class in college,” he recalled. “I never understood the vocab or lingo. So when I started teaching, my goal was for students to leave my class already familiar with those concepts, to have wrestled with the material before they even have reached college.”

Teaching wasn’t the career he always envisioned. “In 2009 and 2010 it was hard to get into the field, but I was extremely grateful and lucky to get the job,” he expressed. “All my siblings are accountants and sit in offices all day. I wouldn’t trade jobs with them in a heartbeat.”

For Mr. Mullarkey, the biggest reward of teaching psychology is how it changes the way people see the world. “The biggest benefit is understanding people’s behavior in real time. It even changes the way you watch TV or analyze events. Once you study psychology, you start noticing body language, facial expressions, and little cues. When you see someone getting worked up, it doesn’t have the same effect because you know something’s going on,” he explains.

Through his years in the classroom, Mr. Mullarkey has found what he calls a “beautiful challenge,” not only in the subjects he teaches but in helping students understand themselves and others. Whether he’s unpacking Freud or supply and demand, his lessons remind people that understanding the mind is the key to understanding the world.