Honor physics teacher John Secaur with Kent State scholarship fund
A great teacher stays with you forever.
I know that from personal experience, and I bet most of you reading this column do, too.
An effort is afoot to honor a great teacher, Dr. Jon Secaur, by raising $50,000 to establish a scholarship that will encourage future great science teachers. It is called the “Jon Secaur Future Science Teacher Scholarship” for a rising science teacher at Kent State University. Jon and his wife, Linda Idoine, have contributed $5,000 to initiate this worthy undertaking.
Both our boys benefitted from Dr. Secaur’s teaching and indirectly, as their parents, Janet and I benefitted also. That being the case, the two of us upon notice of the campaign immediately donated to this noble cause. We hope you will join us.
Dr. Secaur’s career included teaching at Crestwood High School from 1972 to 1978 followed by teaching at Theodore Roosevelt High School from 1978 until 2007. Kent State University, recognizing Dr. Secaur’s ability, employed him as a member of its Physics faculty from 1980 until his retirement last year. All totaled, his life’s work has been an amazing 50 years in teaching.
“Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher,” a Japanese proverb proclaims.
The Rev. Amy Gopp, senior pastor of the United Church of Christ of Kent, has taken a leading role in the campaign to fund the Jon Secaur Future Science Teacher Scholarship. The stepdaughter of Secaur, she has written a wonderful letter extoling his virtues and I extrapolate portions of it for this column.
“Voted ‘teacher of the year’ many times over,” her letter reads, ”Jon is more than a physics teacher and professor. Jon is a teacher at heart: it’s what he was born to do. While his subject matter was science, I believe Jon’s power and influence emerge from who he is as a human being. Who the teacher is, is often more important than what the teacher teaches. His awe and wonder at the world, coupled with his kindness and compassion for his students and the university, is what makes Dr. Jonathan Secaur stand out.”
“There is never a time I am with him that he does not run into a former student,” she writes. “Without fail, they make a point of stopping to greet him and thank him. It is evident in the way their eyes light up and in how they address Jon that they feel they are in the presence of someone they deeply respect and strive to emulate. To be in Jon’s orbit is to be in the presence of greatness, despite his remarkable humility.”
I looked up those “rate my professors” feedback services that Kent State offers and when I found the name of Jon Secaur, I kept seeing words like, “awesome,” “You’re in for a treat,” “Best professor at Kent State” and “great”.
So many alumni of Roosevelt, Crestwood, and Kent State University as well as, indirectly, their parents and siblings, have benefitted from the teaching of this good man so, if you can, it is time to pay back, friends. In addition to honoring the work of Jon Secaur, you will be helping inspire other, younger future great science teachers that our country very much needs.
Gifts can be mailed to the attention of Alexa Doutt, division of Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement, PO Box 5190, Kent, OH 44242. Please indicate, “Jon Secaur Scholarship Fund,” in the memo line of your check.
Gifts also can be made electronically at: https://flashes.givetokent.org/JonSecaur. Gifts given using that link on Giving Tuesday, Nov. 28, will be matched up to $1,000.
David E. Dix is a retired publisher of the Record-Courier.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Kent State scholarship effort to honor John Secaur
