By JASON WU
Mr. Michael Engelke took an interesting path to becoming an educator. After being admitted to college with a lacrosse scholarship, he worked in multiple summer camps where he discovered his passion for working with young people. Since history had always been one of his favorite subjects, he combined his two passions by becoming a social studies teacher.
Before coming to Jericho, Mr. Engelke had experience teaching in Brooklyn and Syosset, and for the past 9 years he taught in Seaford. Mr. Engelke got his bachelor’s degree at Towson University and his master’s at Hofstra.
Mr. Engelke knew of Jericho’s extraordinary reputation, and is excited to be part of the Jericho High School faculty. “The reason why I decided to come here is that Jericho has a very good reputation in the educational world, being ranked one of the top public schools in the whole entire country. It has a reputation for commitment to high academic achievement from teachers as well as students,” he said.
Curriculum Associate for Social Studies, Business & Libraries Dr. Sundberg was impressed with Mr. Engelke’s resume. “Mr. Engelke stood out due to his experience with coaching students in research,” he said.
Mr. Engelke is dual certified which demonstrates his flexibility with different teaching methods. One of his proudest achievements is the leadership role he took in facilitating the establishment of the AP Capstone program in Long Island high schools.
Every teacher has their own unique ways of teaching students and Mr. Engelke certainly does as well. He believes that getting students excited to come to his class is one way to make learning fun and meaningful.
Junior Evelyn Z. admires Mr. Engelke’s classroom dynamic. She said, “I have always enjoyed Mr. Engelke’s class, and was energetic coming to his class due to the amount of energy Mr. Engelke gives.”
Mr. Engelke enjoys the outdoors and spending time with his friends who he has known since the 6th grade. True to his love of history, Mr. Engelke likes to travel all around the world. He has visited Tokyo, the Rainbow Mountains, and Machu Picchu. Closer to home he fondly remembers his cross-country trip that started on Long Island and ended in California after he visited 13 cities. When the weather turns too harsh for being outdoors, Mr. Engelke stated how he doesn’t mind staying home and watching some Netflix.
