Doug Henderson will tell you that an academic background is important, but not the only thing a teacher needs to be successful. Doug fondly recalls high school teachers he had - and not just mathematics teachers - who taught him how to encourage and relate to students.
Doug describes his good fortune while at St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto, where he had Ralph Stanton as a professor. Doug recognized Ralph’s talent for making complex ideas seem simple and dull material seem interesting. Those experiences encouraged Doug to take up teaching.
After getting a mathematics degree, and then a masters degree in statistics, Doug returned to his home town of Thunder Bay to teach at Port Arthur Collegiate. Subsequently he moved to Sudbury as Master Teacher of Mathematics; he taught at Lo Ellen Park S.S. and worked with new teachers. While teaching in the north, Doug helped create the Northern Ontario Mathematics Association - a chapter of O.A.M.E.
Eventually Doug moved to Waterloo to teach at Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate. Shortly afterwards he became mathematics head at St. David S.S., where he stayed until his retirement.