Mr. Andrew Austen, an AP Physics 1 and Physics C teacher, joins the staff this year.
He went to Virginia Commonwealth University for six years and went to the University of Richmond for two years. He became a teacher for VCU for a few years before switching to the public school level for the last ten years. His degrees from VCU include two bachelors’ in physics and statistics, and a master’s degree in physics. He also obtained a master’s degree in business and administration from UR.
“I like teaching. It’s one of those things I just fell into. I never wanted to be a teacher because I took the alternate route, which is getting a master’s degree first and then going into teaching later in life,” Austen said.
Mr. Austen is from England and moved to the United States when he was two. Before he moved to Henrico County, he worked as a teacher for Chesterfield County at Motoaca and Lloyd C. Bird High Schools, and then one year at Patrick Henry High School in Hanover County. Last year he got a job teaching geometry to eighth graders at Quioccasin Middle School. Before he became a teacher, Mr. Austen worked on non-lethal weapons for the federal government.
“I’m not really big into teaching middle school. I knew I wanted to come back to high school since I’ve been teaching high school physics for ten years. A few high school math positions came up, but then the physics position at Deep Run came up, and I knew Deep Run was a really good school. I wanted to teach AP Physics to high caliber students,” Austen said.
Mr. Austen sees his students as motivated to learn, do well, and succeed, He thinks of the staff members as being really friendly, laid back, and focused. Mr. Austen does have a goal in mind for his first year here: to get as many fives on the AP Exam as possible.
“I just don’t want students to pass the exam, but to get a fives on it. My goal is to have 50% of all my physics classes get a five and all my students pass with a three or above,” Austen said.
Many students agree that the AP Physics exam, is an extremely difficult exam, and statistics show that half don’t pass. The students will have to see how Mr. Austen prepares them as the new school year begins.