It seems that some knights can’t seem to part from the castle of North Penn. After 2 years of being a substitute for various teachers around North Penn High School, room E016 is officially taken by former student athlete, and now social studies teacher, Mr. Andrew Schmitz. Students are ecstatic that they can see their coach dominate both on the field and in the classroom.

Out of many new teachers and faculty in our big school, Schmitz has an advantage when it comes to teaching his first class. Most newcomers struggle with the layout of the building and figuring out who is in what classroom, but Schmitz has already memorized this school like the back of his hand. Inside the classroom he knows the expectations of his students and his role in the learning and athletic community.

“I understand the athletic aspects of how the teams are ran, how the coaches run and I know little details such as ineligibility so I know what to expect and how to deal with it.” explained Schmitz.

Before he chose the path of teaching, Schmitz struggled to identify what he wanted to be growing up. He originally aspired to be a police officer until junior year when he realized that teaching high schoolers their past was going to be his future. Mr. Berardelli, a now retired North Penn history teacher, was the inspiration Mr. Schmitz needed when it came to deciding the rest of his life.

Along with a love for history came a love for sports. Playing lacrosse and soccer throughout high school, Mr. Schmitz went on to play lacrosse for West Chester University. The love didn’t stop there as he played almost every possible intramural sport that they offered. After college, it didn’t take long before he found the passion of coaching as he started coaching North Penn’s boys lacrosse team and coaching the girls soccer team the following year. Coaching has helped the new history teacher both on the field and in the classroom.

“It helps me learn more about my students, I get to know them on a more personal level as opposed to just having them in the classroom and it helps me find out what students find important. By working with athletes, I get to know more about my students as a whole.” said Schmitz.

Having taken our footsteps years ago, Mr. Schmitz understands facing classes with dull environments and monotonous voices. Having such experiences has motivated Schmitz to make sure that he is very enthusiastic and has a lot of energy for his students. While he grew up in the height of recent technology, he better understands how it works and how it can help  in the classroom. He finds it easier to relate to fellow tech savvy students as it caters to the comfort zone of most students. In addition to using technology in the classroom, putting students in group activities, partnering them up, keeping them enthralled, and captivating their attention are all major components to what builds Schmitz’s class into a welcoming and exciting environment.

“If I’m alert and energetic, they start feeling the same way.” Schmitz stated. With this, Schmitz hopes to get them more interested in the topics and learn more in his classroom.

After learning both on the field and in the classroom, history teacher Mr. Schmitz is ecstatic to take the 2017-2018 school year by storm and apply everything he has learned to the students of North Penn. There are many games one can win, but for Schmitz, it is clear that the biggest victory of all was putting his name on the doorway and earning the keys to room E016.