A History of PNW

A Brief Physics Northwest History

March 29, 2014

In the fall of 1985, NW Chicago suburban High School District 214 physics teachers met for lunch on a teacher institute day. Among the attendees were Bruce Illingworth (retired, Prospect HS) and Bob Shea (retired, Rolling Meadows HS). During the past summer Bruce had attended the inaugural PTRA and Princeton Woodrow Wilson summer programs, both of which emphasized outreach activities to be carried out by the participants. One of Bruce’s goals was to begin a local physics teachers’ alliance similar to that of the long-existing ISPP program. This new group, Physics Northwest (PNW), would complement ISPP, providing a geographical convenience needed to improve physics teacher communications in the outreaching northwest suburban area. Bob readily agreed to host this first meeting and on January 14, 1986 a group of 25 teachers met to share both fellowship and physics teaching ideas.

The First Meeting, Rolling Meadows High School, January 14, 1986

(identities of attendees listed at bottom)

The success of the first meeting led to a yearly schedule of eight meetings with Bruce Illingworth becoming the secretary, responsible for recruiting hosts, printing mailing labels, etc. The January meeting was held at Elmhurst College, thanks to Earl Swallow, beginning a twenty-year tradition where members joined both ISPP and Physics West, a third alliance formed by teachers in the southwest tech corridor near Fermilab. In the second year of PNW, hosts began keeping minutes, passing them along to the next month’s host to be included with the invitation mailing. Each meeting now included refreshments and a “giveaway” demonstration to take back to one’s classroom. Funding for each meeting was provided by the host school. They often involved their school’s foods classes to prepare the refreshments.

The ‘88-‘89 school year was remarkable for several reasons. First, members were asked for a one-time voluntary school membership fee of $25 to begin a treasury from which members could fund bulk purchases of demonstrations. This perpetual fund is replenished by individuals purchasing the demonstrations for their home schools or for themselves and is managed by the treasurer. PNW also applied for and received affiliate status from AAPT. At that time Dave Thiessen (retired, Deerfield HS) was selected as our first president and Bruce Illingworth and Bob Shea officially became secretary and treasurer, respectively. Finally, the November meeting was a bring-a-buddy meeting with each member inviting a new junior high school science teacher. All members presenting that evening donated a copy of their demonstrations to each guest!

Within a few years membership had grown to more than 100, with more than 30 attending any given meeting. The area being serviced included a 20 mile-wide band that reached 30 miles westward from Lake Michigan. PNW meetings often focused on a particular theme (e.g., optics). It was also decided to trim the yearly schedule to six meetings plus the Elmhurst get-together. Over the years the meeting format has been refined to include a 30-minute period of fellowship and a light dinner, followed by up to two hours of 5 to 15-minute presentations.

The first PNW web site began in 1997, thanks to Larry Martin who regularly posted the pages on North Park College’s server until his untimely death in 2002. The site contained yearly calendars, meeting minutes, employment listings and other information. PNW also began using email for all of the communications in 2003.

In 2002, a changing of the guard occurred, with younger teachers filling two important slots. Dave Thiessen was replaced by Scott Beutlich (Crystal Lake South HS) as president and in 2005 Matt Lowry (Lake Forest HS) and Evan Richards (retired, Lake Forest HS) replaced Bruce Illingworth as secretary. Josh Norton (Cary-Grove HS) replaced Bob Shea as treasurer when Bob retired in 2007. Recently, Mark Welter (Prospect HS) took over as president for Scott Beutlich when Scott retired in 2012. Matt continues to maintain the new web site and membership is available to anyone who visits the site. Once there, one may view the minutes, peruse employment postings, view the meeting calendar, etc. The current address is: https://sites.google.com/site/physicsnorthwest/

After nearly thirty years of successful meetings that have grown to 40-50 attendees, the members both ask each other and have been asked by others across the country as to why the group has been so successful. The most important factor has been the dedicated hosts. Each year the group requires six hosts, geographically distributed, with schools rarely hosting in consecutive years. To date, more than 40 schools have hosted nearly 200 meetings. Good officers have been instrumental in keeping members informed and tuned into the importance of the group. Active recruiting of younger teachers and instilling in them a belief that attending meetings is important to their professional growth has been vital in maintaining the life of the organization. The membership has endured the passage of time with retired teachers being replaced with new faces. Members are encouraged to make presentations and can expect to be treated with support and enthusiasm without any criticism or correction. This has led to many members becoming active in state and national organizations as well. The monthly meetings are often filled with humor, which also spurs many to step forward and share good ideas. Many of the older teachers are award-winners and highly-enthusiastic role models. Several younger members are former high-school students of charter members. Members really appreciate both the “giveaway” demonstrations and the bulk purchase bargains, each making it difficult to miss attending a meeting. One host teacher filled his entire classroom with items he had received during meetings - an overwhelming display of teaching treasures. Finally, genuine friendships have blossomed as a result of PNW and, most important, thousands of physics students have had their lessons enriched.

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