Apollo-Ridge teacher wins state award for teaching real-world applications of geography

A Vandergrift woman who teaches at Apollo-Ridge High School won a state award for teaching how knowledge of geography could be applied to real jobs.

Jessica Johns, a social studies teacher, received the 2020 Pennsylvania Geographical Society John J. Katana K-12 Distinguished Teaching Award.

“I am very humbled and very surprised to be nominated let alone win the award,” Johns said. “It’s exciting that a small school can offer such neat educational opportunities for kids.”

The Apollo-Ridge Education Foundation heralded the award on its Facebook page and congratulated Johns, noting the award demonstrates “excellence in teaching as well as innovative and effective classroom methods in Geography, Earth Science, Environmental Science or any other course with a consistent and substantive geographic base.”

Johns, 39, concentrated in geography while an undergraduate at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

“Geography needs to be learned before history because I don’t think you can truly understand historical significance until you acquire geographical literacy,” she said.

Johns recently approached IUP to develop a relationship with the university and her AP geography students at Apollo-Ridge.

She brought in professors to lecture on “big ideas” within the study of Human Geography, which examines how the world population has understood, used and changed the surface of Earth and subsequent patterns of human population, migration and land use.

As part of the partnership with IUP, Apollo-Ridge students visit the university for lectures and access to the computer lab and cartography software, working with satellite imagery and other data.

“People who use this software go into public planning or working for environmental groups,” Johns said. “There’s all these career tracks – that’s what make IUP’s geography department top-notch.”