It’s a new month, which means it’s time to honor another Teacher of the Month!

For the month of May, journalism has chosen Mr. Jeron Carr as our winner! Many of our students at Mark Keppel High School (MKHS) are already quite familiar with Mr. Carr and some may have only now learned of him at our previous prep rally, where he was honored as Keppel Staff of the Year. Mr. Carr has been teaching at MKHS for eight years and is in charge of teaching regular Physics, AP Physics, and Computer Programming. However, his teaching background is much more diverse than that.

With an undergraduate degree in physics and a masters degree in education from Cornell University, Mr. Carr has taught various science subjects at Ithaca High School in New York, a charter school in California for four to five years, and at Arcadia High School. He also devoted three years of his life teaching as part of the Peace Corps in the Philippines. As an educator, he states that the most important thing to him is “that I’m preparing my students to be successful in things they hope to accomplish later in life.”

Physics is a subject that is notoriously difficult for its complexity and being a combination of science and math. However, Mr. Carr sees it from a different perspective. “In physics, we deal with objects we can see and talk about how they move, why they move, what happens when different things move, but most of these ideas are things that students already have strong beliefs about but those beliefs come from Hollywood and movies,” he states. Instead of physics itself being fundamentally difficult, he believes that it is the misrepresentation in the media that forces students to relearn everything they know about science and lower their expectations. In order to help students who are unfamiliar with the subject, Mr. Carr states that he is “trying to connect everything that I teach back to real life examples so they can see how the science matches reality.”

If you didn’t become a science teacher, what other profession would you have gone for?

“Growing up, I bounced around on what I wanted to be, to a paleontologist and soccer coach. When I went to college, I imagined I would be a physicist but instead went for education. Otherwise I wouldn’t know. I enjoy a lot of different things. My wife thought I’d be a park ranger. I like being out in nature.”

Who is your favorite physicist and why?

“Richard Feynman. I like him because he finds humor in physic

s and somehow makes serious topics a little less serious and a little goofy”

If money was not an issue, how would your classroom change?

“I’d have a lot more sort of expensive demonstrations around the classroom. I don’t think it would change my teaching very much because most of the physics taught in high school is very simple. I think the mistake all educators make, they think expensive equipment is better. Students understand cheap things, they understand a meter stick… you’re better in a high school classroom than using fancy equipment. I would have a lot more toys though.”

Any hobbies?

“Right now, I’m so busy in keeping up with my kids, they are my main interest. But if I didn’t have kids, I’d read a lot more, go out to the movies more. I’m kind of a boring person, I’m inherently boring.”

What’s your favorite color?

“Green. It has always represented new life and growth to me. No matter how you’re feeling, you can always regenerate and be a little better the next day.”

What animal would you most like to be?

“Some sort of eagle or hawk, being able to fly would be great. Or maybe a parrot, they live a long time and are smart.”

What type of books do you like to read?

“Back when I had time to read, I read lots of different

things. I like an author that is a master of the English language to make any genre fascinating and interesting to read. The simple answer is I tend to read more science fiction. Some of my favorite books aren’t even science

. What’s my all time favorite? I like Isaac Asimov and his Foundation series”

Congratulations, Mr. Carr! VROOM VROOM!