Scott Johnson to teach chemistry starting in August

Scott Johnson enjoys teaching so although he is eligible to retire from the public school system after 29 years, he has chosen to continue teaching and will do so as the new chemistry teacher at JPII starting in August. During those 29 years, Johnson taught locally at South Central for 12 years (including two as department chair) and the last four years at J.H. Rose where he has been a member of the school improvement team and taught standard, honors, and AP chemistry. At JPII, he looks forward to meeting the students and families and teaching in a small environment. Most of the schools he’s taught at have had more than 1,000 students.

Johnson became a teacher after working as a counselor at Camp Willow Run for two summers after his freshman year in college. It was there he realized he could combine his love for science with his personality that enjoys working with teenagers. “I love science, so I wanted a career in science. However, a career in a lab or in industry wasn’t appealing to me. Working with the public and with students suited my personality better so I went into education.” Johnson describes his classroom as “hands-on as much as space, materials, and resources allow with lots of practice! Reinforce and repeat.” He enjoys seeing students grow, learn, become successful and following them from just learning about science all the way to becoming adults and having careers and families.

Johnson graduated from East Carolina University in 1991 with a bachelor of science in science education with a concentration in chemistry. Since entering the classroom, he has been a supervising teacher for six East Carolina University science education interns including the Most Outstanding Intern for the 2009 graduating class. While at South Central he coached track and cross country and he coached basketball and cross country at Hickory High School. In his free time, he enjoys spending as much time with his college-aged children as possible, lots of walks with his dog, fishing, woodworking, and attending athletic events at ECU and the school where he is working.