For Sandee Coats-Haan, the path to becoming an AP Physics teacher at WHHS was anything but straightforward.
She first considered teaching in the second grade. However, after attending Douglas County Comprehensive High School and excelling in math and chemistry, she was encouraged to pursue engineering instead.
From there, she went on to attend Georgia Institute of Technology and earned her Bachelor of Chemical Engineering. She later began a career in the field, eventually working for Procter & Gamble, which brought her to Cincinnati.
Even in the midst of her engineering career, teaching was still on her mind.
“There was a book by an author named Tracy Kidder called ‘Among Schoolchildren,’” Coats-Haan said. “The author followed a fourth and fifth grade class, and I loved that book. I started reading more and more books about teaching and classroom experiences.”
One day, while she looked for similar titles at a bookstore, her husband asked: why not become a teacher?
She returned to school at Miami University to get her Master’s degree in Science Teacher Education, and began working at WHHS in the ‘96-97 school year, instructing math while pregnant with her son.
She soon found herself teaching at Lakota East, since it was closer to where she lived. Although she initially believed she would teach chemistry, she ended up teaching physics. Thanks to her engineering degree, she was already certified to teach the subject.
“It turned out that while chemistry was my first love, physics was my true love,” Coats-Haan said.
Coats-Haan enjoys the time she spends with her students, and her favorite part about teaching is when the concept finally clicks.
“You have dialogue with them back and forth, and suddenly their face changes and you can see they understand it,” Coats-Haan said.
Students say that energy carries into her teaching style.
“She’s very energetic,” Ernie Manders, ‘26, said. “Very passionate. I think that her teaching style is liked by a lot of the people who do the best in her class.”
One of the greatest difficulties she encounters while being a teacher is the demand for things beyond teaching itself.
“There are so many other things that don’t have to do with teaching: the meetings, the stress,” Coats-Haan said. “I don’t want anything to do with that, I just want to be with my students.”
Despite these challenges, she has created memorable experiences for her students, including the popular cardboard regatta project.
Coat-Haan’s dedication to teaching has not gone unnoticed. She won the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching from former President Barack Obama.
“I told myself that I didn’t care what I had to do, I was going to get this award so I could meet that man,” Coats-Haan said.
Meeting Barack Obama, however, left her starstruck.
“I was nonsensical when I talked to him. I was in tears, and I looked like an idiot.”
As she looks ahead to retirement, Coats-Haan is focused on her health and new passions. She has already begun volunteering with Hamilton County Parks and has developed a deep appreciation of plants. She also hopes to read, write, travel and spend more time cooking.
Her final piece of advice to students matches her spark for education and connection to the world around her.
“Never stop wanting to learn,” Coats-Haan said.