Col. John Church, head of leadership studies for Bensalem’s Marine Corps JROTC, wasn’t prepared to be singled out in front of the high school’s entire community of students, teachers and administrators.
But at the end of March, while participating in the student-faculty basketball game, that’s exactly what happened. During halftime, it was announced that Church was voted BHS Teacher of the Year — a newly-reinstated award program.
“There I was in my shorts and my T-shirt,” he said with a laugh. “But it’s very humbling and really quite an honor.”
According to Church, the annual award was a staple at BHS until around 2008, when it was discontinued. This year, a small committee of teachers decided to bring back the initiative.
They define the BHS Teacher of the Year as “a dedicated educator who demonstrates commitment and passion for their craft. Earning the admiration of the faculty, administration and students, this teacher challenges and engages students and is committed to their success, demonstrating a passion and joy of teaching that inspires the community.”
Regarding the selection process, each of the five building administrators nominated two teachers. Then, students and staff submitted their votes to choose three finalists — Church, Chelsea Root and Christopher Sterman. From there, the BHS administrative team decided on a winner. A golden plaque was installed in the main entrance of the school, where the names of awardees will be added each year.
It’s been a rough two years for educators, who had to pivot to virtual and hybrid learning formats when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. In Church’s opinion, this initiative is a great morale booster and reminder of the positive impact that teachers can have on a teen.
“It’s wonderful when multiple teachers come together to help a student become the best version of themselves. And it’s never just one teacher. It’s two or three saying the same thing to a student over the course of one day, ‘Hey, you can do this. You’re better than this. I know you can do this,’ ” he said. “I’m glad to be a part of this collective that urges these youngsters forward.”
When discussing the honor of winning the award, Church stressed that his work would be impossible without Master Sergeant Shawn Worthen, Marine instructor. Together, this dynamic duo instills leadership and life skills, including time management, responsibility, goal setting and teamwork.
“We’re constantly reminding them, ‘This is gonna be a team effort in this class, in this life, in this world, in your job, in your marriage. Whatever you’re gonna do, you have to learn to be a good teammate,’ ” he said. “We motivate students to learn. We use the techniques that Master Sergeant Worthen and I developed over the decades we spent in the Marine Corps. We foster a disciplined and constructive learning environment.”
Given the human-centric nature of this curriculum, Church admitted the difficulties in shifting to a virtual format.
“It’s about looking someone in the eye and saying, ‘That was a mistake you made. Here’s how you made it. How do you think you should correct it in the future?’ It’s very hands-on to help students fix what they did wrong,” he said. “When we were in the pandemic, it was very, very difficult to make it work, but we did the best we could.”
Throughout those trying months, Church, Worthen and the cadets practiced another lesson often taught — gratitude. In fact, Church regularly leads them in a chant. When he asks, “What’s our attitude?,” they respond, “Gratitude!”
“I tell them, ‘You need to be grateful. There’s someone working hard so that you can be in school, so that you can have things,’ ” he said. “Myself and Master Sergeant Worthen, we’ve been in some less than desirable places. So relatively speaking, being at Bensalem is pretty good compared to being in Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan. Some of those neighborhoods aren’t so nice.”
Church came to Bensalem High School over two years ago after serving as the assistant principal of student services at Bishop McDevitt Roman Catholic High School. Previously, he was the 13th president of the Valley Forge Military Academy and College.
“The Marine Corps called me up because the previous senior Marine instructor was retiring. It was difficult to leave Bishop McDevitt. I had no idea that I’d be here, but I’m grateful for it. Here, I’m in the classroom, which is good, but I’m an administrator, as well,” he said. “And Master Sergeant Worthen is one of the finest individuals I’ve ever worked with. He’d get my vote [for Teacher of the Year] every day and twice on Sunday.”
Church is excited for what the future holds for the school’s Marine Corps JROTC, which last year received Naval Honor School designation for the first time in its history. This means it’s in the top 20 percent of programs in the nation.
He’s proud of his cadets, but they’re also proud of his recent accomplishment.
“They were more excited than I was,” Church said with pride. “They were so funny about it, they just went crazy. They were so kind.”
Samantha Bambino can be reached at [email protected]
