By: Shreya Senthilkumar and Allison Hurley

Apex High School’s very own Mr. John Clark was honored by Wake County on Friday, November 19, 2021, when he won the Wake County Employee Excellence Award. Two hundred people were nominated for the award across Wake County, but Mr. Clark was one out of only twenty people who received it.

Mr. Clark has been teaching for three years, all of them at Apex High. He teaches all our agriculture classes and advises the Future Farmers of America Club (FFA) Mr. Clark has brought several animals into the classroom including guinea pigs and a rabbit. Most notably, during online school last year, Mr. Clark live streamed the hatching of chicken eggs for his students. This allowed students to get up close and personal to wildlife and help them learn in a unique, intriguing way. Additionally, Mr. Clark helped rejuvenate the FFA and even worked with other CTE teachers for class activities. Mr. Clark partnered with our Culinary teacher Mrs. Hoskins and our Food and Nutrition teacher Ms. O’Brien to teach all of their classes about Farm-to-Table food production.

In order to be considered for the Wake County Employee Excellence Award one must be nominated by a colleague. Mr. Clark was nominated by Mr. Summers. Mr. Summers saw a post on Twitter regarding how to nominate an educator for the award. He says Mr. Clark was deserving of the award because “his dedication is unmatched and I really think that is what employee excellence is all about.” Mr. Summers and Mr. Clark have closely collaborated on different events, such as providing students with research opportunities and helping set up the livestream for the hatching chickens. Mr. Summers has watched Mr. Clark bring the agriculture program back to life and he has been amazed by Mr. Clark’s remarkable service to the students over the last three years and felt he was deserving of being recognized for his hard work.

Mr. Clark developed a passion for teaching thanks to the many amazing teachers he had growing up, specifically two agriculture teachers who taught him in high school. These two teachers had the largest impact on him and inspired him to become an agriculture science teacher himself. Upon receiving the Employee Excellence Award, Mr. Clark had many people to thank for his success. He expressed his gratitude to all of the Apex High Staff, specifically Ms. Hoskins and Ms. O’Brien. “Everyone is just so supportive of everything we do,” he stated. “I couldn’t imagine being at a better school than Apex.”

Mr. Clark has brought countless opportunities and unique learning experiences to students over the last three years. The students and staff at Apex High are lucky to have an outstanding educator, like Mr. Clark by their side. Congratulations Mr. Clark! We look forward to seeing all you accomplish in the future.