Biography
I was born and raised in Lansing, NY which is very close to Cornell. Once I graduated high school I moved to Rochester, NY to attend and play football for SUNY Brockport. I received my BS in physics with a minor in mathematics in the spring of 2003. That same summer I married my wife Rachel and we planned to settle in Rochester for the foreseeable future. One of my professors worked as a contractor developing manufacturing technologies for the Xerox Corporation and I was set to begin working with him that summer, but in the late spring Xerox entered what would become a yearlong hiring freeze.
As I sent out resumes, I was offered a teaching position at a small private school the fall after I graduated and I decided to take it. I originally had no intention of teaching as a profession, but I had enjoyed working with children before and I considered it an opportunity I might never have again. I spent the year teaching middle school level math, science and history and I never really looked back.
Given the freedom to develop my own curriculum for the classes I discovered that teaching offers a unique opportunity to share what we are passionate about with our students through demonstrations, discussion and most importantly experimentation. To pay for graduate school I worked for an electronics manufacturing firm in Ithaca, and once I had finished my master’s degree at Cortland State I began working for Onondaga Central Schools.
School Work
I have worked at OCS for five years now and have had the opportunity to teach 8th grade Intermediate Science, Regents physics, applied physics and a college level physics course through Onondaga Community College as well as serve as the advisor for the class of 2014 for four years and the science/technology department chairman for one year. I am very proud of our school and I am very enthusiastic about any opportunities that I can offer our students to gain experience outside of the traditional high school environment.
Interests
When I am not at school I spend as much time as possible with my family, which at this point includes my wife and three very energetic boys. My hobbies include camping, building furniture and hunting water fowl and deer. I also strive to be a lifelong learner, gathering as much experience as I can in order to provide greater depth to my students education. For that reason I am looking forward to this summer program.