We are proud to announce that the

2023 recipient of the JMU High School Physics Teacher of the Year Award

 is

Mrs. Jennifer Kazanciyan

Alexandria City High School, Alexandria, VA

The student who has nominated Mrs. Kazanciyan is Alexander Heckel, currently an engineering major at JMU. Here is Alex in his own words describing the exceptional attributes of his nominee:

“She puts in a lot of time to create extra help resources on all lessons. The “Eureka!” Google Drive Folder contains additional videos, notes, practice problems, study tips, practice games, encouragement, and much more. She is kind, and she is thorough at explaining and helps everyone individually. Each lesson is engaging, and usually includes a group activity. She mimics a college class very well in AP Physics 1, since so far in my first college semester of physics, we’ve done very similar labs to high school. She encourages and enables good time management by giving a 5 minute brain break in the middle of each class to allow students to refresh themselves, and keep working hard. All of these in combination made her my favorite teacher throughout high school.”

When asked about the impact the Honors Physics 1, AP Physics 1, courses he took for 2 years with Mrs. Kazanciyan, had on him, Alex added that:

“After she helped me succeed both years in her classes, it gave me the confidence to pursue my degree in engineering by exposing me to the level of rigor that the classes will have.”