Staff Member of the Month: Mark Engel

The Staff Member of the Month for November is History teacher Mark Engel. He has been teaching for 13 years, five of them at FCHS.

Engel received his business degree from UNC Wilmington and his Masters in Teaching from Trinity University in Washington, DC. His experience in training salespeople during his time in marketing and sales led him to become a teacher. “I enjoyed working with people and teaching new things. Therefore I turned to teaching as a second career,” he said.

He chose to teach history because it has always been his favorite subject and because “telling stories comes naturally.” His favorite part about teaching history is “turning things students might have heard about into things they want to know more about.”

Engel began his teaching career in Texas as a Special Education teacher, then moved to Maryland and eventually, Virginia. He said he loves working at FCHS due to the “community of teacher support and the friendly interaction across departments” which makes for a fun and positive work environment.   

The most interesting thing to happen to Engel while teaching happened during a parent-teacher conference when a 5th grader asked if he would date her mom. He responded, “My wife doesn’t let me date.”

In his free time, Engel enjoys playing and coaching soccer. He has coached girls’ JV soccer for the last five years at FCHS, but with a new baby at home, playing soccer has been put on hold. “Being a father has been the best thing to ever happen to me,” said Engel.

He also enjoys comic books and sci fi. His favorite series is Star Wars and Superman. “The very first movie I ever saw was Superman, and the second was Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back. They made a huge impact on me as a kid,” Engel said.

Engel married his college sweetheart Dr. Amber Engel and they have a baby girl named Evan Engel.