David Perrel is known around Anderson High School for his passion for teaching, his creativity and his engagement with students.
Perrel was part of the AHS Guiding Coalition Team, which helped AHS, through its Anderson High University program, receive an Early College High School endorsement from the Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning.
Alan Landes, the principal at AHS, said Perrel was instrumental in landing the endorsement for the school.
“Mr. Perrel played a key role,” Landes said. “He is very smart. He has a good head on his shoulders. He has lots and lots of great ideas. We just really appreciate the wisdom and experience he brought to the team.
“He has a great math mind, great science mind, and even bigger than that, he just loves working with students and loves seeing them experience success.”
Landes noted that Perrel also helped AHS earn its STEM endorsement in May.
Perrel, who has worked at Anderson Community Schools since 2001, teaches physics, engineering and Project Lead the Way at AHS. He’s also in charge of the AHS Rube Goldberg Machine Club and works with the Robotic Team alongside Joshua Dillard.
Perrel grew up in Muncie and studied physics at Purdue University. He now lives in central Indiana with his wife and their three children.
Perrel tries to make lessons fun and interactive for students.
“I enjoy trying to get students to do activities and projects that get them to creatively come up with solutions to problems, but also try to analyze and think about the reasons behind it,” he said. “I do it in a different setting and try to blend the mathematics, but along with the practicality of it.”
Dillard — an engineering, science and Project Lead the Way teacher at Anderson — has worked with Perrel since 2013.
“He just has a passion for what he teaches,” Dillard said. “He teaches the next levels of these courses, like aerospace and principles of engineering. He really just feeds off the energy of the students. He’s just really engaged with them and really listens and is always there, constantly reevaluating.
“He’s not stuck just reading from a book and doing the same things. … He’s changing up things to make the class fun and exciting.”
Perrel said its gratifying to see students excel after they leave AHS.
“That’s one of the rewarding things I enjoy with high school,” he explained. “You see those kids that are kind of at the transition period of the regular routine of public school and then they are getting ready to head out to college.
“You hope you taught them more lessons than what’s just in the book — being a good person and integrity and hard work.”
This article appeared in The Herald Bulletin.