AP, Micro, Honors and regular Biology: James Adams influence on the science apartment and the school has landed him the teacher of the year award.

Adams said he knows teaching isn’t an easy job. He noted how it’s important to remember to push your students so they can succeed and not to just make the job easier for yourself.

“I think one of the biggest things is that you can’t make things easy on students for your own benefit,” Adam said. “Make (the class) challenging to help them grow, even though it may be harder for you to do on a daily basis.”

One student that has experienced the hard but rewarding teaching of Adams is Gabe Figueroa ’25, who previously had him for Honors Biology. Figueroa said he understands the workload and effort he needed to put in could be a lot at times, but Adams provided an interesting and intriguing environment with various accounts from his life.

“Certainly he was a difficult teacher,” Figueroa said. “I remember him challenging students with various questions—I had to take extensive notes just to get by. Despite this, he had various stories and side tangents that were nice to listen to; overall, he was a tough but fun teacher.”

Another student who has noticed Adams’ hard work when it comes to how he approaches teaching is Honors Biology student, Alex Skuzenski ’27. Skuzenski said he enjoys that Adams makes his class fun and engaging and always keeps his students mentally active.

“It’s got to be one of my favorite classes that I’ve taken because of how fun it is,” Skizenski said. “He always makes sure to involve his students in his teaching and make lectures something to pay attention to, as he talks to the students not at them.”

As important as recognition from students is, appreciation from other teachers provides an extra insight as to Adams positive influence on the science department. Science teacher Troy Hernandez added that Adams will have a lasting impression on the school as a whole.

“(Adams) really has been like a pillar to our like department; he set the standard of how we should teach the different subjects even though he (teaches) biology, not physics or you know, other earth science or chemistry,” said Hernandez. “Everyone looks up to him and values his opinion, his ideas and thoughts on how things should go.”