Growing up in rural Wisconsin, Mr. Volm’s family always wanted him to pursue a sport. However, he discovered something else that piqued his interest. 

When his mom got him a telescope for his birthday, he spent lots of time observing the sky. Little did he know this would lead to his amazing teaching career

From astrophysics to gardening, to having season tickets to the opera, his interests span far and wide.

Science teacher Mr. Volm is a jack of all trades. His fun personality and his teaching ability got him nominated and voted for the teacher of the year at Prior Lake High School. 

While pursuing his degree in astrophysics at the University of Minnesota, he decided to help tutor his fellow classmates. This created a spark that would flourish into him pursuing education as a career.

 “They said the way I explained it was nice and straight forward; you should be a teacher,” Mr. Volm said. “After a couple people told me that, I decided to go into education rather than astrophysics.”

Mr. Volm has been teaching for 29 years, all at Prior Lake High School. Throughout his time here, he has made a big impact on countless students.

His love for science and astronomy rubs off onto his students.

“Kids in your class will gain interest if you show interest in it,” Mr. Volm said. “If you’re not having fun with it, the kids see that and they won’t have interest.”

Many students love his class for how enthusiastic and funny he is in the classroom. Chemistry can be a difficult concept for some to grasp; however, Mr. Volm has a talent for sparking a passion for chemistry in his students.

“I’ve never been good at science, but when I had Mr. Volm, he would make it easy for me to understand,” said Willy Fredrick, senior at Prior Lake High School. “His personality made me excited to come to class. Some teachers are robotic, and it’s boring.”

For Mr. Volm, cracking jokes is all a part of the fun of teaching.

“It would be boring for me if I wasn’t cracking jokes,” Mr. Volm said. “You have to put your personality into it. Otherwise, it’s boring for everybody, teacher and student.”

Doing activities such as the explosion lab in class leads to getting kids more interested in science since they are able to see it in action first hand.

“The explosion day was one of my favorite days of chemistry,” Willy said. “The labs made class more fun and engaging. My favorite was the titrations.”

During his 29 years of teaching, he even had the privilege of sharing his knowledge with his own children in class. They got to see their dad teach first hand after hearing many stories. 

Mr. Volm also helped run the robotics team for 9 years at Prior Lake High School. He helped shape the robotics program into what it is today.

“A student and his dad originally brought robotics to Prior Lake, but I was there from the beginning helping them out,” Mr. Volm said. “After they left, I continued to run the team. That was a very fun 9 years, but lots of work.”

Mr. Volm was nominated and voted for teacher of the year this school year. His colleagues voted for him and believe that he deserves the award. 

There is only one teacher selection in each building of the district, so this is a big honor, especially at the high school where there are over 200 staff members.

“I’m always upbeat and friendly. I’m always there to help people if they need help,” Mr. Volm said. 

Being named teacher of the year was never something that drove Mr. Volm to be a good teacher. He is a good teacher because of his love for science and his love for his students.