In August, Delbarton welcomed five new teachers to campus, including Mr. Owen Steele of the Physics Department.
Mr. Steele grew up in a small village in Westchester County, New York, known as Sleepy Hollow, which is the setting of the famous tale of the Headless Horseman. Mr. Steele attended Sleepy Hollow High School, where he ran cross country, played soccer, participated in the Robotics Club, and developed an interest in musical theater.
After high school, Mr. Steele attended Stony Brook University in Long Island, where he double majored in physics and math and minored in chemistry. At college, he participated in the Equity Opportunity Program (EOP), where he tutored students from inner-city schools, and he also conducted pseudo-biology and physics research.
After college, Mr. Steele spent a year in a PhD program in physical chemistry at Stony Brook University, where he conducted research, served as a teaching assistant in an undergraduate chemistry lab, and learned about quantum mechanics. However, rather than finishing the program and pursuing research, Mr. Steele found more fulfillment in teaching, leading him to pursue a master’s degree in teaching at Providence College. Prior to teaching at Delbarton, Mr. Steele taught physics and chemistry at an all-girls high school in Massachusetts.
Currently, Mr. Steele teaches both AP Physics I and AP Physics C, and he is involved in the Robotics Club and the Research in Science Club. When asked about where his passion for physics came from, Mr. Steele explained that he finds the subject elegant, as it changes the way he perceives the world, and he noted that his high school physics teacher motivated him. Outside of physics, Mr. Steele enjoys jogging, reading science-fiction books, and learning about history, a discipline he may have pursued if not for physics.
We hope that everyone extends a warm welcome to Mr. Steele, and we are excited to see the contributions he makes to our community.
