By Hiba Ahmad
At the Dayton Regional STEM School, students strive to achieve a top notch education; and teachers strive to provide that possibility, relentlessly working to improve their own knowledge. Mr. Polk, a tenth grade geometry teacher and prior Jeopardy contestant, is certainly no exception. He is currently working towards a master’s degree in the field he loves - mathematics. Mr. Polk has been teaching at the school for six years, and he believes that gaining his master’s will help him deeply understand the content, better preparing him to answer students' questions. Not only that, but he feels that with his master’s degree he will be able to more clearly see how all topics relate, and he can plan his lessons accordingly.
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| Mr. Polk is the longest-serving math instructor at DRSS. |
He decided to pursue
his graduate degree because he has a deep appreciation for math, and Wright State has a
great program for its employees where they can take classes for free, which is a major benefit the school receives for being a part of WSU.
On managing his
career and education he says: “It is
difficult… You just kinda survive, you do what you gotta do.” Mr. Polk
previously taught at a school in Detroit, and also worked at a summer
enrichment program through an engineering school. Although they did not call it
project based learning, their curriculum consisted mainly of that. He first
heard of the school when his wife was accepted for a position in the area. While
searching for a job, his in-laws read about the school in the paper and they
immediately sent him the link. Mr. Polk was intrigued! “They sent me a link and thought I would find it interesting, and I
did.”
Now that he actually works at the school, he likes that everyone
appreciates that what we are doing is something neat and meaningful, and he
also enjoys how diverse the school population is. He also appreciates that the
administration trusts teachers to do what they think is right for students, and
that they allow teachers to design educational material for their students.
One lesser-known fact about Mr. Polk is that he appeared
on the popular gameshow Jeopardy! as a high school contestant, where he had a great time and made some good
friends. He also played football in high school. Recalling his prowess on the field, Mr. Polk joked: “Ha!
Depending on who you asked, I had scored a total of two points in my high
school football career.” Both a math genius and an Olympics-level athlete!
