Teaching is an incredibly complex profession, and it isn't always easy to know whether the growth we're working towards as educators is translating into real student success. The Presidential Award is confirmation for me that my hard work of continually seeking professional growth has paid off and inspires me to keep on working towards being the best teacher I can be. I am grateful and overwhelmed to share this honor with my students and teacher collaborators who have challenged and pushed me.

Jeremy Secaur Elyria, OH | 7-12, Science, 2019

The official biography below was current at the time of the award.

Jeremy Secaur has been a teacher for 22 years and has spent his entire career teaching physics at Elyria High School. Jeremy has taught Physical Science, Physics I, Honors Physics I, Advanced Placement Physics B, AP Physics C Mechanics, and AP Physics C Electricity & Magnetism at Elyria High. He currently teaches 11th and 12th grade Honors Physics I and both AP Physics C courses. His drive to improve his pedagogical practices has led to his adoption of active learning strategies in physics education for most of his career. Jeremy is a practitioner of modeling instruction, and in 2018 he was trained to lead multi-week workshops for the American Modeling Teachers Association (AMTA) to guide fellow teachers in the implementation of modeling instruction. This new outlet matches perfectly with Jeremy's love of helping other teachers grow professionally, and to continue his own growth. Jeremy has mentored 10 first-year science teachers in his school, and has learned to become a better educator through his work with new teachers and with training teachers in modeling instruction. Jeremy has served on the executive boards of both the Ohio section of American Association of Physics Teachers and STEMteachersCLE. He has led workshops for STEMteachersCLE and AMTA to help teachers develop pedagogical content knowledge in physics as well as general teaching strategies. Spending 16 years as the technical director for Elyria High's drama club helped Jeremy learn many skills that directly help in the classroom and as a teacher leader. It is hard to isolate those lessons but he feels they are integral to who he has become as an educator. Jeremy earned a B.S. in astronomy from Case Western Reserve University and a M.A.T. from Kent State University. He is licensed in high school physics.

Know a great teacher like Jeremy Secaur?