Camden Catholic is proud to announce that faculty member Dr. An Nguyen is among four New Jersey educators to be named a recipient of the Princeton Prize for Distinguished Secondary School Teaching. She will be awarded the honor at Princeton University Commencement on May 27. Each honoree will receive $5,000, as well as $3,000 for their school libraries.
“The selection committee recognizes these four individuals as the kind of educator whose imprint on students lasts far beyond their time in the classroom. They are committed to their students, are dedicated to the craft of teaching, and contribute in countless ways to their communities,” said Michael Gordin, dean of the college and the Rosengarten Professor of Modern and Contemporary History.
“These four extraordinary teachers demonstrate the remarkable teaching taking place across the state of New Jersey,” said Todd Kent, director of Princeton’s Program in Teacher Preparation, when the recipients were announced.
Ten finalists were selected by the Program in Teacher Preparation staff and visited at their schools by Rosanne Zeppieri and Paul Chapin, members of the program staff. The four winners were then selected by a committee chaired by Elizabeth Colagiuri, deputy dean of the college, that also includes Kent; Jennifer Jennings, professor of sociology and public affairs and a faculty associate of the Office of Population Research; Sabine Kastner, professor of psychology and neuroscience; and William Miron, principal of Millburn High School in New Jersey and a 1978 Princeton University graduate. The selection committee also considers recommendations from colleagues and students as well as evidence of the teachers’ accomplishments in the school and the community.
Princeton has honored secondary school teachers since 1959 after receiving an anonymous gift from an alumnus to establish the program. “As a proud product of New Jersey public schools myself, I have always particularly valued that the University applauds superlative teachers like the ones who shaped my path,” Gordin said.
As the director of STEM and robotics at Camden Catholic High School, Dr. Nguyen teaches 9th to 12th graders in science courses spanning biology, design thinking, robotics and engineering.
To prepare to teach design thinking, Nguyen earned a certificate in industrial design, enrolled in a Rutgers maker education program and self-published a class workbook. Now a freshmen favorite, the course paved the way for Nguyen to establish a competitive robotics team, an engineering and design program, and the school’s Innovation Lab maker space.
Nguyen has a Ph.D. from Drexel University. She joined Camden Catholic in 2018 after teaching at universities including The College of New Jersey and working as a STEM education consultant.
Colleagues credited Nguyen for expanding the school’s STEM curriculum, with a hand in virtually all courses and initiatives: “She is the STEM program,” said one.
Outside of the classroom, she has mentored 25 students over the past three years. A former student called Nguyen “a mentor for life.”
“Dr. Nguyen’s ability to foster growth and innovation in her students has had a profound ripple effect,” said the student. “She is shaping the future of the next generation of innovators.”
“Innovative educators teach their students to think and live differently,” an administrator said. “This is how we successfully educate the next group of future leaders.”