Chemistry teacher John Kretsos won the 2013 Golden Apple Awards for Excellence in Teaching at the high school level. Kretsos and nine other winners were selected from a field of 510 nominees for this prestigious honor.

The award was revealed at a surprise announcement during Kretsos’s eighth period class on Thusday, May 2.  As a celebration, Kretsos’s family, colleagues and many students gathered after school in the Commons to celebrate this joyous event. “He was so surprised that he had won. He was speechless. I am so glad that he got it because he truly deserves it,” Ivan Silverberg, a fellow teacher, said.

“I am so happy that Mr. Kretsos won it because he has impacted my chemistry experience so much. He comes to school and teaches us to understand chemistry not because he has to, but because he truly loves to. Any of his students could tell you that Mr. Kretsos has a passion for teaching and cares for the success of his students,” former student Irene Cho said.

After getting nominated, Kretsos had to write five essays and get three letters of recommendation from colleagues, students and parents. “After putting it all together, I was,  like ‘okay that’s cool, I will never hear from them again’. I wasn’t expecting getting picked out of all the nominees,  especially since there are so many other people that should get it,” Kretsos said.

The Golden Apple representatives came in for a day and observed Kretsos along with some of his current and former students, parents and colleagues. “To a degree, I felt like I was at my funeral… Everybody said so many nice things about me. I just felt really nice. It actually made one of the interviewers cry within one of the student groups,” he said.

Golden Apple recognizes 10 outstanding Chicago-area educators every year and announces their names in May. The educators must be teaching in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake or Will counties. The 10 Golden Apple recipients will receive a tuition-free one-quarter sabbatical at Northwestern University, a $3,000 cash award and membership in the Golden Apple Academy of Educators.

The recipients of the 2013 Golden Apple Awards for Excellence in Teaching will be honored at a black-tie event on October 25 at WTTW/Channel 11 Studios in Chicago. WTTW will also broadcast the awards in a one-hour television program following the event.

To continue improving, Kretsos hopes to “give chemistry a better name because one thing [he] hear[s] a lot of is [he is] a great teacher but they don’t like the subject.” He hopes to help his students love chemistry even more and become more interested.

As one of his former students, I believe that Kretsos is one of the most loving, amazing, and great science teachers that I have ever had the honor of being taught by. He is the reason that I became more interested in chemistry.

UPDATE:  Kretsos has recently  earned another teaching honor. He will receive the 2013 Davidson Award from the Illinois Chemical Education Foundation and the Chemical Industry Council of Illinois. The award is presented annually for outstanding achievement in teaching high school chemistry. Kretsos will receive his award at the 56^th annual Scholarship Luncheon held on May 22 in Des Plaines.