Hello! My name is Josh Gurkin. I am looking forward to a great year at Apex High School! This year I am teaching AP Physics 1, AP Physics 2, and AP Physics C: Mechanics and Physical Science. I have previously taught Academic Physics and Honors Chemistry as well.

This is my sixth year at Apex High School. I am very happy to be a "Cougar." It is nice to have a school mascot! (I graduated from Washington High School in Washington, NC where we were the "PamPack". There was no mascot.) Following my high school years, I attended Campbell University (Go Camels!) where I earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry.

Following my time at Campbell, I moved to the Cary area and attended NC State University for graduate school. At NCSU, I earned my Master of Science degree in Chemistry with a focus on organometallic chemistry under the direction of T. Brent Gunnoe (currently at the University of Virginia).

After I defended my thesis, I took a job as Director of Information Technology at a Raleigh mental health agency. I always knew this was a fall-back position as my lifelong passion had been for teaching. In the Fall of 2014, I was happy to accept a position at Apex where I taught AP Physics 1 & 2 and Academic Physics in my first year.

In addition to the physical sciences (physics and chemistry), my interests include music, technology, world politics, and modern & classical languages. One of my main areas of focus in education outside of direct instruction is the effective and appropriate use of instructional technology in and out of the classroom.