Thank you, Mr. Omachi

Friday morning we celebrated the life and contributions of Mr. Omachi at a mass of remembrance in the Big Gym. In attendance were Steve’s mother (Kiyoko Omachi), his girlfriend Melissa, and other members of Steve’s immediate and extended family.  After the mass, we thanked Steve and his family with a eulogy from Peter Fletcher, and an address on behalf of all Northridge students by 12th grader Giancarlo Donahue:

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“I can say without a doubt that Mr. Omachi was one of a kind. When I think of Mr. Omachi, the two qualities that come to mind are humor and dedication. I was at Northridge for 4 years before I had Mr. Omachi as a teacher. Before I had him, my impression of him was always the sort of teacher who seemed serious, taught boring subjects, and perhaps a bit strict. But for some reason, I noticed that all of his students loved him. 

I figured it out on the first day of class. He was all of a sudden the loud, boisterous, yet dedicated teacher that began to introduce us to the world of sig figs, parallax error, and cool party tricks, and he quickly earned everyone’s respect along with the nickname “Sensei”. As my two years with him progressed, Mr. Omachi made it obvious that he was one of the pillars of Northridge. I still remember when we were learning about force, kinetic energy, and momentum in class, and to demonstrate what we were learning he pulled out a Nerf gun from under his podium and started shooting Jack Brown, as the rest of the class cracked up laughing.

That was Mr. Omachi. Whether it was modeling Star Wars masks, yelling “Ham sandwich” in the middle of class, or just watching the last Mandalorian episode at the end of class, Mr. Omachi understood how to relate to his students in a way that was special. However, he also taught his students at a level that most teachers could only dream of. Although Mr. Omachi was great at teaching physics and math, that wasn’t the extent of his teaching. Through his example and tireless hard work, he taught us the virtue of dedication, something you could always see in Mr. Omachi, whether he was setting up a lab, organizing a math team practice, or just helping a student succeed in his class. 

He is a loss to us, and I can’t even imagine what loss this is to his mother, who is here with us. It was an honor to be his student and we were blessed to have him at Northridge.”

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