Valley physics teacher honored as 'teacher of the year'

Students at La Joya Community High School know that if you're taking physics with Mr. Kovach, you're in for a show.

"They push me to be the best teacher that I can, but in the same vain that I push them to be the best thinkers that they can," Zachary Kovach said.

The Cleveland native has been teaching in Arizona for four years now, and just received his second award for it. His equation for success is simple: Add the fun and subtract the boring.

"I actually de-emphasize the physics content, and I focus on the skills that will pertain to anything that the kids may do, so it's kind of a trick, it's kinda of rope and dope," he said. "I trick them into learning everything, but in a fun way."

From his casual tone, to his out-of-the-box demonstrations, it's hard not to notice how much he loves teaching.

"If you make it fun and you make it relevant and you find what the kids actually find interesting and need, then it doesn't become 'that hard physics class,'" he said. "It doesn't even become school anymore, it just becomes something interesting."

If you're wondering about the hair that was for the kids, Mr. Kovach put his lock on the line to motivate students raising money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. He added it was an easy decision to make, but the transformation was not.

"Five hours, I do not recommend this, five hours it took so... but it glows in the dark!" he said.