Dr. Phil

Our Corbett High School Principal was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1968. At age two, his parents divorced and at age five his father remarried. Phil Pearson was raised by his father and stepmother, Jane Graf. He also has a half sister that currently lives in Phoenix. When in high school, Phil was an outstanding student, only getting one "B" all through the years. He also was involved in drama and cross country running. At age 15, his father divorced again. His dad tended to be very detailed and his birth mom a true "free spirit." He also had the strong influence of his step mom. When in 3rd grade, they moved to Oregon to allow for his step mom to attend graduate school. Phil graduated in 1986 from Cascade High School near Salem. He then went on to the Univ. of Oregon for five years. It was at this time that Phil was heavily involved with Young Life, a Christian youth organization. Phil spent two summers with them as a hiking guide in B.C., Canada. This was a very tight knit group that Phil shared some very intense spiritual, emotional and physical life experiences with. It was at this time that a mentor, Ron Saur had a major impact on his life. At the age of 19 Phil met his wife, Angela. They began dating within a few weeks of meeting and dated all through college. Phil and Angela became engaged just before he graduated from U of O in 1991 with a degree in General Science. Just out of college, Phil started working at a church and with Young Life, full-time. Angela and Phil married in Sept. 1992 at the church he was working at. After two years, he resigned his position and decided to go to graduate school. Phil attended Oregon Graduate Institution, which is now a part of OHSU. After two years, he earned a Master's degree in Environmental Engineering. Phil was then hired to work for OHSU as a research assistant which was field work in Oceanography. This was in many ways an ideal job, and Phil stayed a total of six years. Then he saw a movie, and his life changed. Seeing "Mr. Holland's Opus" was a huge game changer for Phil. It was after the movie that he realized that the legacy Mr. Holland left was the PEOPLE whose lives he had touched. In 1999 Phil went back to school and got another Master's degree in Education. He wanted to leave footprints on kid's lives and felt teaching was for him the best way to accomplish this. In April 2000, he went to the Job Fair and met Bob Dunton. He was offered a teaching position with two different school districts, and chose Corbett because he felt Corbett was on a road to excellence and had vision to get there. Hired by Mr. Dunton for the position of a math and science teacher, Phil says he has NO regrets about his decision to choose Corbett. He reflects back on the many, many footprints that so many have had on his life and vice versa. As many challenges as there has been, there has been just as many opportunities. In 2005, daughter Eleanor was adopted. Angela and Phil flew to China and adopted Elie at age one. Elie is currently a 5th grader at the CAPS School in Springdale. They are very happily a three person family, plus a dog, living in the Park Rose area. Phil graduated from PSU in June 2014 with a Doctorate in Educational Leadership.The degree was not intended for career advancement, he just genuinely loves to read, write and learn! During his free time, he enjoys being with Angela and Elie as well as riding his bike and swimming at the Park Rose High pool. He is also currently trying to figure out how to make the perfect hard cider!