Most students would agree that by far, one of the most interesting people at VHS is math teacher Rich Wertz.

According to the people at Princeton University who award the Distinguished Secondary Teaching Award, he is also one of the best teachers in the state.

For those of you who don’t know, Mr. Wertz teaches the Computer Science and Calculus classes at VHS.

Mr. Wertz grew up in a rural town in Pennsylvania and when college came around, he chose Princeton. He majored in electrical engineering and computer science. Mr. Wertz applied to the University of Virginia, Penn State, Carnegie Mellon, Princeton, UPenn, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He ultimately chose Princeton because of the small size and the fact that it has great programs in everything. He also adds, “And it’s Hogwarts too, and God went there too.. .that’s kinda cool.”

So how did he end up here? He first worked at a consulting company now known as Accenture. Then, he pursued a career at Goldman Sachs for fifteen years. There he was a “quant,”someone who wrote software “to price and manage the risk of portfolios of securities and derivatives.” He came here in the summer of 2004, after retiring from his career of doing software on Wall Street. Mr. Wertz decided that at this point he wanted to pursue teaching, and after seeing an ad in the paper, he applied for the job and was then called in for an interview. He got the job, and has been teaching here ever since.

Mr. Wertz used the Alternate Route Program to his certification to be an educator, which is a program for people who are entering the teaching field from another industry or career. Although he does not have a Masters in Education, he pursued some courses towards a graduate degree in math at the Courant Institute at NYU.

As regards the Princeton award, principals of high schools across the state can nominate teachers from their building.  From the portfolios submitted, which include recommendation letters from both students and fellow teachers, ten teachers are chosen.  Then representatives of Princeton spend a day at the high schools of those ten people.  Ultimately, four honorees are chosen as being among the finest teachers in the state of New Jersey.

Describing the day he was observed, Mr. Wertz, in typical good-humored fashion, commented, “They came and visited one day and some folks made some posters and buttons to embarrass me and make me look like Ted Cruz.”  

On a personal note, I had the opportunity to sit on a panel of about ten students to describe we all felt Mr. Wertz should win this award.

As one of the four finalists, Mr. Wertz will be honored at the Princeton commencement in late May.  He also won $5,000, “which I’m going to spend on one Hamilton ticket,” he joked.

In addition to the $5000, the school ‘s library also gets $3,000.

Congratulations Mr. Wertz, VHS is  proud of you.