TOWAMENCIN- For North Penn students who live in Montgomeryville and beyond, the morning commute can seem like a nightmare. But for history teacher Mr. Kevin Hammer, his passion for teaching and his love of North Penn brings him all the way from out of state each day, as he crosses the bridge and travels the blue route from West Deptford New Jersey.

Hammer is originally from Delaware County, Pennsylvania where he attended Strathhaven High School. While there, he was a member the soccer team, the tennis team, and even the football team for a year. Following graduation, he attended Penn State University as a business major.

“My thought had always been that I wanted to come out of school and make money,” reflected Hammer, “and I always had that type of mindset to be a business major. Eventually I discovered that I really enjoyed political science and I really enjoyed history, and that was always something on the backburner, so I ended up switching my major.”

Following college, Hammer went to work for an insurance company in the private sector, and discovered that it wasn’t at all what he wants for his life. After a few years, he decided to go back to West Chester to get his teaching degree, and joking that “the rest is history,” literally.

His first teaching job was at a school called Benchmark in Media Pennsylvania where he taught students learning disabilities, and then he finally landed here at North Penn.

Originally, he lived in Media, which was a much shorter commute, but his wife and mother-in-law co-own a salon, so business brought them back to his wife’s hometown of West Deptford. “Anything any girl needs to know about cuts and colors and updos and prom season, we’ve got you covered,” joked Hammer.

In terms of the commute, Hammer described that it’s really just something you get used to.  He drives a 2005 Honda Civic to work, which he “basically drives into the ground twice a week.” As for the price of fueling up, he says that it costs only about $50 a week thanks to his fuel-efficient car.

Hammer reflected that he adapted fairly easily to the nearly 10 hours a week worth of commuting to work, and that he actually enjoys the peaceful downtime, especially when there’s no traffic.

“During the rides, I pretty much just listen to some tunes or sports radio because I’m a big sports guy, and I’m a 5 for 5 fan of the Philly sports,” he said. “I also listen to some podcasts and books on tape every now and then.  Honestly, some of my best lesson plans and thoughts in general come when you’re on the road.”

But what is it about North Penn that brings him back here from New Jersey each and every day?

“Not only are the students and staff tremendous, but it’s also a great up-and-coming area,” he lauded. “It’s really just a very nice place to be, and I would really love to live up here, but obviously that’s not possible.  In the department here and overall, social studies is awesome.”

In terms of his teaching style, Hammer fittingly described his approach as the antithesis of the Joseph Stalin regime.

“It’s definitely relaxed and laid back in my classes, but at the same time it’s thought provoking and rigorous. I want to create a safe classroom environment in which all students are willing to contribute, reflect, and offer opinions and analysis. In class I try to address all learning styles by utilizing technology, discussion, group reflection and cooperative learning with the hope of having students learn and apply not only the curriculum but improve skills that they will need in the future.  It’s the metacognitive thinking, or thinking about your thinking and about how you learn, that’s really going to benefit you in college,” he said.

It makes sense that the best teachers are those who have a passion for their subject, and it’s evident that Hammer’s passion is history. In additional to war history and ancient Roman history, he expressed that his favorite branch of history to teach is American History, mainly because the various eras are relatable to the changing lives of sophomores and juniors in high school.

“Maybe it’s the twenties because you saw The Notebook or Titantic,” he said.  “There’s kind of that natural hook, and if you can build off of that, maybe the students will flip on the History Channel, or maybe they will pick up that book.”

Besides developing thinking skills for later in life and shaping links between our lives and past generations, Hammer expressed his belief in the importance of being culturally literate in our society, something he thinks is generally lacking in our country.

“If someone references a flapper, or the New Deal, or something about a war that the United States was involved in, it’s important to have that knowledge and understand what they mean. If you’ve ever seen Jay Lenno’s skit “jaywalking,” you’ve seen him go up to people and ask them where the Boston Tea Party took place and they’ll respond with ridiculous answer ‘Philadelphia’ or ‘New York.’ He’ll ask what DC stands for and people will say ‘Da Capital,’ and obviously that’s not good,” he laughed.

Outside of school, Hammer keeps busy with his 7 year old son who is involved in karate, and of course, x-box.

“My son wants to come to school with me so bad,” he laughed. “He’s always asking me ‘when can I come in Dad, when can I come in!?’ I’m planning to try to bring him up sometime this year, but they’re getting a little stricter with the policies. He wants to meet all my students, mainly because he wants to talk about his favorite x-box game called Mind Craft and lava walls and all that. He could care less about what I doing. He’s always saying ‘You’re probably a mean teacher, Dad,’ especially after he gets in trouble for something,” Hammer joked.

In the future, Mr. Hammer hopes to achieve his dreams of owning a beach house at the Jersey shore and travelling to Europe. Until then, he plans to live out his motto of “keep it simple” and enjoy his time as a teacher because at North Penn, it’s always Hammer Time.