By: Robert Appel
“I’ve been a Howard High School teacher for 12 years. This is my 13th year in Howard County as an educator. I’m from Howard County, so I went to Howard County elementary school, middle school, and high school in Columbia. I went to college in D.C., and then right when I graduated, that’s when I figured out I wanted to be around kids, I wanted to help influenced teenagers and adolescents through soccer and through school.” Mr. Zaron graduated with a degree in computer information systems, minoring in business. When he applied to be a teacher, Mr. Zaron initially thought he was going to be a math teacher, but because he actually took enough computer related courses, he qualified as a comp sci teacher. “It ended up being a blessing because I really love the technology aspect of all these things, I love the changes in technology. Math doesn’t really change, but computer science and technology, it’s always going to be changing and evolving.”
Mr. Zaron especially loves how the students who take his courses are genuinely interested in the subject, often taking them for 2,3, or even 4 years. “I get to see a lot of growth and changes in individuals, and then I build a connection where a lot of kids I stay in touch with in college or after college.” Mr. Zaron actually taught my brother both his sophomore and senior year. “So I had him, he left, he took two engineering classes, he came back, and the improvements and the strength in the growth that he made in those few years was really cool to see.”
“And then with soccer, I grew up playing soccer, I played in college so that’s a huge part of my life as well. Coaching it allows me to see a different age group. Right now I coach 11 and 12 year olds, like a 5-6th grade level, but I’ve coached as young as 8 and as old as 17… and it’s funny, now at Howard some of the students here are kids that I’ve coached when they were 8 or 9 years old, so sometimes when they see me in the hallway they still call me coach Nick.” Mr. Zaron has built many connections with families all across Howard County through school and coaching soccer.
Robert's Connection:
It was particularly interesting to hear about his connections with my brother. I myself connected with Mr. Zaron over our shared interest and passion for technology.
