As a senior at Linganore high school, I have had my fair share of teachers, both good and bad. I have had teachers who are exciting people who make class enjoyable, but unfortunately do not teach all the material to the very best. And I have had teachers who I can barely stand, but still appreciate because I leave the class with a mastery of the course’s material. And then one teacher has stood out from all the rest, able to both teach the material as well as any I have seen, and make class more exciting then any other class as well. This teacher is Jennifer Purgason.
Mrs. Purgason, or Mrs. P as classes call her, has made math special for me, and every other one of her students as well. How does she do this while teaching classes as difficult, and boring, for most people, as Calculus one, two, and three? By making them fun.
However, this is much more easily said than done. How she manages to remain excited and focused after she exhausted herself teaching for four and a half hours still baffles me, even after taking three of her classes. Her excitement rubs off onto all of us in her classes, making us enjoy learning. I found myself actually looking forward to her classes at the end of the day more than I do lunch or Team Sports Basketball with my friends. In addition, she shares personal stories with us when it seems we were getting tired and are not willing to continue learning for the day, sacrificing ten or fifteen minutes in order to salvage the next hour of class. A trade off most teachers wouldn’t consider, instead bulldozing through the hour and half of the class while students sit in there seats, basically asleep, and end up retaining nothing of the day’s lesson. We would also play games in class, such as Pictionary or Bingo, with a math based twist to them. Once again, any other teacher I had would think this inefficient and opt for a more traditional teaching method, or to make it the game too entertainment focused for any real learning to come of it.  Her teaching methods are superb, resulting in both an exciting, and invigorating learning experience that clearly helps her students flourish on the AP tests, as we score well above National levels in every category on the Calculus exams.
In addition to teaching, Mrs. Purgason heads the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Linganore: One of the most popular extracurricular groups in the school, I think, because Mrs. Purgason is the one who runs it. In addition to FCA, Mrs. Purgason runs the Math Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, at Linganore as well. Arranging tutoring for other math students by Honor Society members and social activities.
Mrs. Purgason’s presence at Linganore high school is irreplaceable. After spending so much time in class with her I struggle to imagine what life would be like if I had not had her as a teacher. I can think of no one more deserving of the Educator of the Year Award than Jennifer Purgason