Life Lessons
For high school teacher John Quinn ’18, a quality education goes beyond the classroom
As a posse scholar at Bucknell, John Quinn ’18 learned the importance of giving back to his community. After graduating with a degree in history, Quinn returned to his home district of Prince George’s County Public Schools, where he teaches AP and IB psychology and government at Frederick Douglass High School. He has also advised the National Honor Society, coached the debate team and helped found the school’s mental health club.
Quinn’s time at Bucknell taught him that the value of education extends beyond the classroom. “The experience at Bucknell was just as much about what happened outside of the classroom as inside of the classroom,” he says.
In his first year of teaching, Quinn was named High School Male Educator of the Year by his district. He went on to earn his master’s from Teachers College at Columbia University, where he wrote a thesis on implementing a positive psychology curriculum to explore adolescent identity development.
“A Bucknell education instills in you how important it is to learn about the injustices in society, the inequities, especially in public education,” he says. For Quinn, tackling those injustices often takes place at the individual level. “Mentorship between students and young teachers is key,” he says. “Being able to connect with young people is both important and rewarding.”
Looking ahead, Quinn aims to drive systemic change as an administrator. He joined his district’s aspiring leaders program and hopes to become an assistant principal and, eventually, a principal.
