On April 7, Del Val Superintendent Scott McKinney announced the 2024-25 Teacher of the Year: C.J. Inglin. Inglin was surprised during second block by McKinney, Principal Michael Kays and department supervisors.
Teacher of the Year has been awarded annually for decades based off of student nominations. It’s an opportunity for the student body to show their appreciation for the faculty.
“I am incredibly proud that we were able to recognize Mr. Inglin for his positive impact at Del Val,” McKinney said. “He is a talented and dedicated educator who makes a difference in his classroom every day…. This recognition is well-deserved, as evidenced by the eight nominations for this honor. We are fortunate to have a teacher of his caliber in our classrooms.”
Inglin has been teaching for 12 years, but his story didn’t start in the classroom. After graduating from Del Val, he attended and received a degree from Boston University on the pre-med track; however, part of him knew that it wasn’t the right choice.
“Going to Boston University, I thought I couldn’t major in education because that would be like a waste. Like, ‘Why would you do that at a top university?’”
After graduation, he moved over one thousand miles to Missouri to work odd jobs and was unsure of what to do with his degree. It wasn’t until he lost his dad that Inglin came back to New Jersey and Del Val.
“My father passed away, so I moved home,” Inglin said. “That’s when I was looking for a job and someone told me ‘Oh, why don’t you go to Del Val; you can coach wrestling.’”
During his time as a wrestling coach and security officer, a temporary science position opened at Del Val. Since he already had a science degree, friends pushed Inglin to apply for the job, which eventually became full-time. After considering teaching prior to university, it seemed that fate brought Inglin back to his alma matter.
“During the time I was subbing, I loved it,” Inglin said. “I thought, ‘I always wanted to do this, and here’s the opportunity to do it— I’m supposed to be here.’ And here I am.”
Over the past 12 years, Inglin’s love for teaching has only grown, and over time, he’s developed his own teaching philosophy, which he attributed to winning this award.
“In teaching, they used to say ‘Don’t smile till Christmas,'” Inglin said. “Well, I smile from the beginning to the end.”
Inglin believes teaching shouldn’t be about intimidating students, but instead building strong relationships. By developing that relationship first, Inglin is able to better understand his students, their work ethic and how they learn best.
“Students have personalities, and, in order to teach them, I need to know their personalities, who they are; I make that first before teaching them biology,” Inglin said. “Students don’t want to get bad grades, so if I create the wrong tension, as if I’m the enemy and they’re fighting me, then they’re not gonna listen. There can’t be that tension and you can’t win everytime…. You have to build rapport first.”
Inglin now teaches four biology classes at Del Val: AP Biology, Principles of Biomedical Science, Medical Interventions and Honors Biology. Over the past 12 years, he’s made countless impressions on students.
“Mr. Inglin’s a great teacher,” junior Lucas Shultz said. “He’s the kind of teacher to ask you how you’re doing and make sure everything’s alright. I’ve been in two of his classes, and I’m signed up for AP Bio next year. He’s someone who really cares about his students.”
Teaching isn’t a profession that results in immediate gratitude. According to Inglin, the best part of this award has been the congratulatory messages he’s received.
“While you’re doing it [teaching], there’s no pat-on-the-back, you don’t know how you affect a lot of the students long term until something like this happens,” Inglin said.
As Teacher of the Year, Inglin hopes to do his part to strengthen the Del Val community.
“I want us to keep growing,” Inglin said. “There are teaching methods that have always been good and always will be, but Del Val stays with it, it continues to evolve and get better. My kids will go here one day, and I want it to continue to grow and be a better place to learn for them.”
It’s clear Inglin has made, and continues to make, an positive impact on Del Val. On behalf of The Delphi staff and Del Val student body, we congratulate Inglin for this award and wish him the best for his future at Del Val.
“I think it’s well deserved; he’s a great teacher,” Kays said. “…Every time that I interview a Student of the Month, they talk about him being their favorite teacher. It says a lot about the type of person that he is and why he’s our Teacher of the Year.”
