John Ennis is Named an Exemplary Secondary Educator

John Ennis teaches at Secaucus High School and serves as a curriculum writer at CTL. He has taught science for the past eight years, and focused on physics – his “first love” for the past six. He teaches AP Physics 1, AP Physics 2 and AP Physics C. Among his numerous accomplishments: in 2010, the year before he began, the two Secaucus students who took the AP Physics C exams received an average score of 2.  After increasing student participation and scores each year, in 2016 his 13 AP Physics C students passed the exams with an average score of 3.7!

John Ennis graduated first in his class from the United States Naval Academy and received his Nuclear Reactor Certification from the U.S. Navy and earned his Ph.D in Nuclear Physics from Yale University before embarking in his work as a naval officer and in the telecommunications industry.

Chief School Administrator/Superintendent Kenneth Knops nominated him for the award, along with support from John Ennis’ principal, Dr. Robert Berckes.  Knops explained:

“In what is truly an astounding accomplishment, Dr. Ennis energized the Physics Department at Secaucus High School, during which time he increased enrollment from 30 students, to over 175 students today… He teamed up with the Science Supervisor and the administration to implement the Physics First Program.  Over the past few years he has mentored two new physics teachers, personally overseeing their enrollment in the New Jersey Center for Teaching and Learning Physics Endorsement Program, and he has mentored a chemistry teacher as well… Truly the quotation attributed to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk – A good teacher is like a candle, they consume themselves to light the way for others – would define Dr. John Ennis.”

Our team is proud to have the opportunity to work together with John Ennis to continuously improve the caliber of the free editable course materials we offer for K-12 teachers everywhere.