It’s possible that English teacher Christopher Schaadt has a tattoo of fellow teacher Mitsuo Maeda’s dog on his back.
Each fall, Schaadt regales his students with the tale of the canine ink in response to student questions about his and Maeda’s friendship.
When asked to confirm or deny the existence of the tat, Schaadt replied, “Do I have a tattoo of his dog on my back? Maybe. Does [the tattoo] mean we’re friends? Not necessarily. [We’re] just coworkers.”
The dog tattoo is just one of the many stories about the seemingly inseparable duo, stories that have, over the years, become urban legends passed down from senior class to senior class.
For instance, one story involves Maeda taking pictures of Schaadt’s family and selling them as internet stock photos. Another tale involves Maeda being Schaadt’s teacher during Schaadt’s senior year of high school. Yet another: Schaadt is Maeda’s son-in-law, married to Maeda’s daughter.
These urban legends about the pair are clearly fiction, but what is true is the relationship they have developed over the two decades they have been colleagues at BOHS.
Since they first met 20 years ago, when Schaadt began teaching at BOHS (Maeda arrived five years earlier), their relationship has blossomed into shared social media accounts (@maedaschaadt2 on Instagram), professional collaborations, and too many inside jokes to count.
But the connection wasn’t immediate as the two taught different subjects — Maeda taught English as a Second Language (ESL) while Schaadt taught Literature and Composition 4.
“ESL was kind of like his own department within the English department,” Schaadt explained.
But when the construction of the M Building was completed in 2008, Maeda and Schaadt became neighbors, with Maeda moving to room 144, and Schaadt to room 143. The proximity marked the beginning of their professional partnership.
“We have very similar teaching philosophies and philosophies of the level of respect we have for [the teaching] profession,” Schaadt said.
“We work very well together,” Maeda added. “His strengths are my weaknesses and my weaknesses are his strengths, so it’s a good combination.”
Disagreements are rare, with both teachers open to each other’s opinions and ideas.
“If I have an idea for a lesson or activity, and I’m not sure where to go with it, [Maeda] will finish my idea, and it always works out [for us] both,” Schaadt said. “There’s never any ego between us.”
The ego-free partnership has influenced their teaching, and the duo even have a name for their similar style of instruction: “Teaching Philosophy.”
“We create a path for our students and we escort them along that path,” Schaadt said. “We’re not trying to be professor-level English teachers; we’re trying to help our students challenge themselves.”
One of these challenges is their decade-old tradition, “Opportunity Drawing.”
Created to prevent second-semester “senioritis,” Schaadt and Maeda encourage their 12th-grade students to participate in various challenges — such as a paper bag art competition and a half-court shot — to earn “ballots.”
“We were thinking of ideas to keep students engaged their senior year, so we came up with this idea of a raffle that [eventually] warped into a bunch of activities,” Maeda said.
Because the end-of-year prize is a mystery, suspense builds, keeping the seniors engaged.
And laughing.
This year’s winning bag in the art competition features an edited photo of Maeda and Schaadt standing in front of a Sam’s Club. The photo is a sly allusion to Maeda’s announcement to students that his wife was out of town one weekend and that he was going to “go crazy at the club.” But the following Monday, when asked about his weekend clubbing, Maeda revealed that the “club” was just the grocery warehouse.
“[Maeda’s] humor gives me something to look forward to in class…it’s a fun environment to be in,” Addison Altermatt (‘25), a student in Maeda’s Expository Reading and Writing Curriculum (ERWC) class, said.
Their wit is a vital part of their relationship.
“We have a very similar sense of humor,” Schaadt said. “[Mitsuo] always makes me laugh, always coming up with something ridiculous.”
Jayce Warsaw (‘25), who has Schaadt for ERWC, appreciates his teacher’s approach to instruction.
“[Schaadt] has a very lively personality,” Warsaw said. “He is a great teacher…and he keeps up with Gen Z lingo which helps keep us engaged.”
“I’m chronically online,” Schaadt admitted. “Random things I read on the internet, I’ll bring [to class].”
Besides having in common the humor and similar teaching philosophies, Maeda and Schaadt both have parents who are educators.
Their paths to the profession, however, were different.
Maeda has aspired to be a teacher since childhood.
“My sister and I used to play ‘school’ in the garage,” Maeda, who grew up in Placentia, said. “I’ve always wanted to be a teacher and I’ve never considered anything else.”
After graduating from El Dorado High School, Maeda attended California State University, San Diego. For his teacher training, he taught junior high school in Japan for two years.
Schaadt, on the other hand, initially pursued a career in social work while attending California State University, Long Beach. But he wasn’t interested in the courses he was taking in college. One of his acquaintances recommended that he join the teaching program, and soon after, he discovered that teaching was his calling.
The urban legends, the shared sense of humor, and the 17 years as classroom neighbors should indicate that the duo are best friends, but they both insist to their students (and this reporter) that they are “just coworkers.”
But to some students, like Sierra Rios (’25), Schaadt and Maeda are much more than that.
“Sometimes I wonder how they developed such a strong ‘bromance,'” Rios said. “They’re like an unstoppable duo that can save mankind from alien invasions through the power of their friendship.”
