Name: Damian Simmons

Birthday: August 31st

Undergrad. College: Ball State University

Undergrad Majors: Physics, Secondary Education

Undergrad. Minors: Chemistry, Astronomy, French

Graduate School: Walden University

Graduate Major: Technology in Secondary Educ.

Favorite Colors: Blue and Green

Favorite Movie: Back to the Future

Favorite Food: Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Favorite Quotes: “I like work; it fascinates me.

                               I can sit and look at it for hours!”

                              “Algebra is a wonderful tool. It

                               allows fools to do physics

                               without truly understanding”

Initially from Indianapolis, Mr. Simmons attended North Central High School. He'd known that he wanted to become a teacher since 2nd grade, a science teacher since 6th grade, and in high school he thought he'd like to become a chemistry teacher—making things blow up and change colors seemed so cool at the time. His partial photographic memory had made his high school career extremely successful until 1985–86…

Junior year he took Physics X (honors) and earned a D first semester. It was the only academic class in which he'd ever received below a B+. Physics was the first subject to challenge him. From then on, he vowed that he wouldn't let physics get the best of him again—it didn't, he completed the year with an A+ and a tremendous respect for physics.

He attended Ball State University for five years, receiving a BA in Physics and Secondary Education with minors in Chemistry, Astronomy, and yes, French. His fifth year was spent working toward his Masters in Physics; due to a job offer from BHS, this degree was never completed (with only one class to go). A few years later, he received a Masters in Technology in the Secondary Classroom from Walden University.

Mr. S. has completed 24 years of teaching Regular, Honors, and AP Physics B (The class that is now AP Physics 1 and 2) at BHS. He has also taught summer school at New Trier and at BHS for 10 summers. While at BHS he has implemented the Physics of Toys in the curriculum, developed and fundraised for the Physics Learning Lab (aka “The Playground”), wrote and was awarded over 8 grants from the Barrington Educational Foundation, and applied for the position of Educator Astronaut (2004 Class) at NASA. While he made it to the last 120 selectees (out of over to 1800 applicants), he did not make it to the final 3 chosen. He was a NASA ambassador through NEAT (Network of  Educator Astronaut Teachers) until funding for that group was not renewed in NASA’s 2012 budget. In 2007 he also participated in the Zero-G weightless flights of discovery offered to select teachers by Northrop–Grumman—and invited along Mrs. Fenneis and Mr. Gelon.

He enjoys XBox & PS4 (No Man's Sky, Skyrim, Fallout 4) [Bet you can’t guess his gamertag], biking, eating really good food, movies, exploring downtown Chicago, photography, trivia, and collecting toys...er, I mean lab equipment. He also “enjoys” the company of Guinness—his ferret—most days. He was also recently married in January.