Scott Buhr

When I was 10 years old, I put on a magic show for my elementary school. It was then that I discovered I was a horrible magician. Not because I couldn’t pull off the tricks, but because I loved explaining how they were done more than doing the trick itself. As I grew up, I found that my love for explaining mysteries remained. There are remarkable similarities in explaining magic tricks and explaining natural phenomena. It is no wonder, then, that my mom, a 40-year veteran Christian school educator, and Dad, a lifelong industrial chemist, produced a son who became a science teacher.

Before taking a position at Bob Jones University, after having earned my bachelor’s and master’s degrees there, I spent nearly a decade teaching students physical science, chemistry, and physics at Hillcrest High School in upstate South Carolina. As a K-12 classroom teacher, I was recognized as teacher of the year for my school and as a top ten finalist in my district. I was also honored as a state finalist for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching—the nation's highest award for teaching in the STEM field. I led my science students to break a Guinness World record and raised over $10,000 for science equipment in my school from individual and corporate donors. While teaching, I earned my Ed.D from the University of South Carolina in Curriculum & Instruction with an emphasis in educational technology.

I enjoy being a teacher! My experiences have certainly given me a lot to pass on to future teachers, but I can hardly claim credit for these achievements. I have learned that God is the giver of all good things. It is by His gifts that anyone can do or know anything at all. I now enjoy the privilege of preparing future educators to fully rely on God for success in their field–focusing on the relationship building that can happen inside of a classroom. It is a joy to partner with BJU students in preparing them to have an eternal impact on their future students.