Math teacher Samuel Haug was named the 2022 teacher of the year on Feb. 22. 

After receiving the award during one of his classes, Haug said that he felt both shocked and surprised.

“It feels nice. I did not [expect this] at all. I honestly have no clue [why I won]. There’s a ton of really good teachers here. The other teachers that I was up against were awesome. It was like four or five years ago when I was up for teacher of the year and I lost. It was kind of a humble kick to my pride. I didn’t change anything that I did. It didn’t make me a different teacher. This is what I love to do. I do it every day and other people appreciate it,” Haug said.

In Haug’s Algebra 2 class, junior Tori Turner has had him for two semesters and said she enjoys being in his class.

“I think he just connects with the students very well. I’ve never had as good of a math teacher and as good of a grade in math until this year. He really just explains everything so well and makes it not as complicated,” Turner said.

Business teacher Libby D’Angelo has been co-teaching AMPED with Haug for four years and she said that it is amazing that he won since he is a great teacher and kids like him.

“Because [students] like him, they’re willing to work hard for him. He’s also the kind of teacher that will make sure the activities are updated and things are fixed to make sure that he’s not giving them a half-done like ‘oh this problem was bad and I’m going to tell you to cross things out things, I’m just going to fix them,’” D’Angelo said. “He’s always revisiting what he’s done. Like, ‘was this a good activity or not and how can I make it better?’ He’s always doing that and [trying to] make it so that [his students] are not just sitting there absorbing information, but they can actually do something,” D’Angelo said. 

Haug did his student teaching here and now is going on 15 years working at the school. After watching how much fun his father had as a teacher, Haug said he felt inspired and wanted to become a teacher too.

“I feel like I come to school and have fun every day. I laugh, I don’t feel like I’ve really had to grow. I get to stay young. I get to say youthful. I get to laugh and joke with kids and I get to help them with something that some of them really like and some of them don’t,” Haug said. 

With the use of board work and hands-on activities to learn, Turner said that she feels like he caters to his students’ learning needs.

“He doesn’t lecture a whole entire class. He lets us have time to work on stuff. For our homework, he comes around and helps us and individually works with people a lot more than any other teacher I’ve ever had. If you don’t understand something, he makes time for you to come in specifically and he helps you out whereas other teachers don’t do it as individualized work,” Turner said.

As for Haug’s advice to other teachers, he said that his main goal is to make sure his students are enjoying their time in his classroom.

“Have fun every day with it. I think that if kids enjoy coming to your classroom, that’s half the battle and if they see that you have fun with what you do, they are going to try to have fun with you,” Haug said.