Celebrations

Hun School science teacher Anne Soos retires this summer, leaving behind a fifty-year legacy and thousands of grateful students in the Princeton area.

“I want to go out while I’m still at the top of my game,” said Mrs. Soos with a smile. She came to Hun in 2013 after forty-five years in education, mostly at Princeton’s Stuart Country Day School. “I have loved teaching at Hun.”

Mrs. Soos, who holds an undergraduate biology degree from Harvard and an Ed.D. from Rutgers University, created an Advanced Placement (AP) Environmental Studies independent study course when she arrived at Hun. She also has taught AP Chemistry, AP Biology, physics, and computer science at all levels. At Stuart, Mrs. Soos was head of the Upper School for twelve years and science department chair for sixteen years. She is an expert in the AP field, serving as a reader of AP Biology and Environmental Science tests for the last twenty years. She edited an AP study guide and has served as a consultant to the College Board.

Mrs. Soos has seen much change in five decades. As one of the very first female graduate teaching assistants at Princeton University in the late 1960s, her experience there helped her hone in on secondary school teaching, rather than academia, as a career choice. (Her husband, Zoltan, is a professor emeritus of chemistry at Princeton.) 

Hun student Justin Bauer ’19, who had AP Chemistry with Mrs. Soos this year, said the class prepared him perfectly for the AP Chemistry and SAT Chemistry tests.

“It was a great class,” said Justin. “It was clear that Mrs. Soos really loves science, and it really comes through in her teaching. We had sixteen labs in that class, and she taught all of the topics so well. When we did the labs, we could really see how each of the topics applied in real life. She made chemistry a lot of fun.”

“Anne is a seasoned master teacher,” said Hun Science Department Chair Jacqueline O’Gorman. “She has incredible professional expertise in science education and school leadership and has often shared her knowledge and experiences with her colleagues to influence them to delve deeper, think bigger, and take risks in the classroom. Her experience in teaching so many courses is rich, and her mentorship even richer.”

Mrs. Soos plans to stay in her Princeton home, spending much of her time reading, cooking, and gardening, and may even be available for occasional substitute teaching. 

“We have been so incredibly fortunate to be blessed with her patience, her curiosity, her kindness, and her never wavering selflessness,” said Mrs. O’Gorman. She guides us all in becoming better teachers and better citizens.”