We take pride in our staff, and now we get to know them with their “last ten.”

editor’s note: We spent time with Mr. Rinehart last week. Here’s what we learned about him.

What was the last restaurant that you visited? “I had dinner last night at a barbecue place called Sugarfire.”

• What did you get? “A brisket sandwich!”
• Is that your favorite thing to get? “No. I like all kinds of barbecue. I like pulled pork, brisket and all of that kind of stuff.”
• Did you go there with anyone? “I went with my mom, my grandma and my uncle who was in town from Dallas.”
• Are you all from Dallas? “Nope. He is. He moved there out of college and got a job opportunity in Dallas, so I go and visit him every now and again.”

What was the last TV show or movie that you watched? “I watched the Cardinals game.”

• Are you a big Cardinals fan? “Yeah! I try to watch them when I can.”
• How often is that? “Well if they’re on in the evenings I at least have them on. I’m not watching them with full attention, but they’re at least on in the background, but I look up when they cheer and see when the action was.”
• Are you interested in any other sports? “Yes. I’m into football and basketball, but I can’t enjoy football until baseball is over because playoffs are exciting and I do like those two, but baseball’s my favorite.”
• Did you play any baseball? “Nope. I didn’t play. In college I used to go to the batting cages a lot. Just go and hit for fun after class, and in the evenings. That was good fun. I got pretty good for a while, but then it’s one of those things where you stop doing it for six months or a year and you just can’t catch up to anything anymore.”

 What was the last thing that you ate? “Probably would be my banana.”

• Do you usually have fruit for breakfast? “Yeah I’ve got a banana today, too. You just reminded me I’ve gotta eat it!”
• Always a banana? “Always.”

What was the last thing that you did at your former job? “This is my first for-real job.”

• Did you do any student teaching? “Yeah, I student taught at Parkway South last spring.”
• How long did you do that for? “Just the spring semester.”
• Did you like it? “It was great, awesome school, yeah! My mentor was good, and they have a great science department there.”

Who was the last person that you shared a phone call with? “Well, I just tried to call the coordinator of the robotics program. I’m doing coaching so I tried to get a hold of her but I didn’t get a hold of her yet.”

• How did you get into robotics? “You know, they asked me if I wanted to do it, and I said sure. I don’t know a whole lot about it; I’m brand new to it so I thought it might be a cool thing. I wouldn’t say it’s like one of my huge interests, but they needed someone and I thought it might be kind of fun.”
• Do you like coaching robotics so far? “Yeah so far it’s been good. I don’t do a lot. Just got to make sure I take attendance. I’m the sponsor, so they have mentors that are knowledgeable about that kind of stuff. But they’re all nice kids, they’re all super smart. They know what they’re doing with the building and stuff, so that’s  cool. “
• Are you learning along with the kids? “Yeah! I’m walking around seeing what they’re doing. They ordered a new 3D printer. They’re making these parts, and I think that’s pretty cool. 3D printers are pretty cool.”

Who was the last person that you hugged? “My grandma.”

• Are you and your grandma very close? “Yeah, pretty close. I mean, she has three grandkids and two of them live in Texas, so I’m the one she gets to see the most. So growing up we were pretty close.”

What was the last store that you went to? “I’m not a big shopper. I guess I got some new pants over at Kohl’s.”

• Is that your go-to store for stuff like that? “For something easy, yeah. If I just need one or two things…to get some slacks or a new shirt or something. Quick and easy.”

What was the last soda that you drank? “I’m not huge on sodas. I drink a lot of coffee and Gatorade.”

• What do you put in your coffee? “Just a bit of milk. Just a splash.”
• What’s your favorite flavor Gatorade? “That’s a good question, I like them all! I like the purple fierce. I like the lemonade. It’s really good. I like them all though.”

What was the last out of state place that you visited? “I went to Indianapolis in July for a concert.”

• What concert? “Umphrey’s McGee.”
• What kind of music is that? “They’re a rock band. But I would say they’re a rock band with jazz sensibilities because they try to do a lot of improv in their songs, and that’s what I like about them.”
• Are you a big jazz or rock fan? “Yeah, I like all kinds of music. I grew up classic rock, but I played a jazz band in college so I like that a lot. I like anything as long as it’s good musicians and they’re playing it well.”
• What instrument did you play in the band? “I played guitar in jazz band. That’s my main one. I played a little piano and a little bass, but I’m not as good at those.”
• What college did you go to? “I went to Mizzou.”
• Was the band a class or was it just your own band? “Well it was a class, but every year they match you up based on your schedule and then also make a good band. Everyone’s got to have a drummer and a bass player and all that kind of stuff. So it was a class, but once you take it three times you can’t get credit anymore, so I stopped signing up for it. I just kept going because it’s great fun.”
• Did you have a name for your band? “Yeah, we had different names every semester. One of the good ones was Coopa Troopa and the Goombas.”
• Who came up with that? “One of my bandmates because my first name is Cooper, so they thought that’d be kind of clever.”

Who was the last person you communicated with over social media? “Another teacher at Lafayette High School. I was trying to convince her to be the second robotics coach. We’re looking for one more or we’re going to have to cut some kids, which we don’t want to do.”

• How many kids are in robotics or want to be? “Right now we have 61 or 62.”
• Is that from just EHS or all of the Rockwood schools? “That’s just EHS. And each school has one or two teams.”