TeAcHErS: Featuring Dr Gadd

By Hannah Park

Q: If you were a science topic, which one would you be?

A: Quantum mechanics, I guess. It’s fundamental, it’s complex–I think most people are complex in their own way, and yet I think there are certain fundamental basics in everybody.

Q: Favorite element on the periodic table?

A: There’s a lot of cool elements. I could say Gadolinium because it sounds like my name… I love Carbon. Think about how complex carbon is, how much chemistry is based on carbon. Carbon does so many cool, interesting things depending on how it bonds.

Q: Do you have a chemistry joke to share?

A: An atom is frantically searching on the ground for its electron, and another atom comes by:

“What’s going on?”

“My electron, I can’t find it!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m positive!”

The Princeton Day School Honors Chemistry class as we know it dates back to 1996, when Dr. Steven Gadd joined the growing PDS science department. However, his love of science began before his teaching career and even before his career as a student. From walks through local museums to camping trips to collecting fossils at state parks, his parents nurtured his love of learning and an excitement in the sciences, similar to how Dr. Gadd approaches teaching. He recalls at-home experiments with milk jars, baking soda, and balloons, which his mother used to illustrate air pressure and chemical reactions. She was, as Dr. Gadd puts it, instilling in him early that “labs are the nature of science.”

Almost every Honors Chemistry student for almost three decades now has sat through his class and been introduced to chemistry at a high level. There’s “a complexity but also a simplicity” in the subject, which leads Dr. Gadd to prefer it to physics and biology. He teaches both the challenging conceptual units and the calculations involved, and after almost three decades, he knows the ins and outs of his subject matter like nobody else. With his penchant for organization, he’s also the man behind the schedules of every upper schooler.

Dr. Gadd also is knowledgeable on many other subjects, including but not limited to, classic rock, caving, bridge (the card game, not the structure), geology, and even some astronomy. From joining boy scouts to exploring the outdoors of southwest Ohio, he hasn’t lost his love of the outdoors, and he continues to enjoy spelunking, hiking, and canoeing. His classic rock playlist on a thumbdrive in his car holds a variety of music because he likes to go a while before the songs repeat. He’ll also enjoy the occasional blues, jazz, or classical.

Not to be confused with the famous drummer, Dr. Gadd is a pillar of the PDS science department and, though it’s been a while since he transitioned from student to teacher, he remains a true scholar. Anyone who passes through his Honors Chemistry class can attest to his genius, his passion for the subject, and the real value he adds to the course.