Alex Luke

Cohen has been teaching AP Euro for many years, two years at BSM.

AP European History is a popular high school course throughout the country, and at Benilde-St. Margaret’s. History teacher Jeff Cohen has a passion for teaching this course and has been doing so for many years at both Saint Louis Park High School and BSM.

Cohen started his BSM teaching career teaching both world history and AP US History, hoping that one day he would be able to teach AP Euro at BSM, the course he taught for six years at Saint Louis Park. The AP curriculum is uniform throughout the nation, but Cohen has noticed some differences between the two schools. The biggest difference is the welcoming arms BSM had for him and AP Euro. Another positive was being able to work alongside his good friend and BSM social studies teacher, Ken Pauly. “My experience in teaching the same class at two different schools has really been the attitude of the schools itself,” Cohen said.

Cohen remarks on how the environments of the two schools are significantly different. BSM gives him the energy to teach, while it was hard to find that boost of motivation at his former school. To add to that issue, Saint Louis Park was pushing to stop offering the course, which was the only course he taught. Those were the big deciding factors in his decision to part with teaching at Saint Louis Park to teach at BSM. The other biggest difference he noticed was the difference in test scores, but he does not credit that difference to the students, but to the school. “I think I’ve worked a little harder here… It [teaching at Saint Louis Park] really took a toll on me, and I just didn’t have the interest, the drive, the emotional and mental energy to pump as much into a course as it takes to get good scores,” Cohen said.

He also credits the increase in his students’ test scores to the mentoring he has received from fellow BSM social studies teacher Cherie Vroman. Vroman has a reputation for the highest AP scores in all of BSM. Vroman was the former AP Euro teacher at BSM and currently teaches AP Human Geography, a social studies course offered to freshmen. “I think Mrs. Vroman has been another huge factor in better scores for me here because she pushes me. She is also a great mentor, and makes me want to work harder,” Cohen said

Cohen’s passion for the course has definitely been noticed by BSM students, and it is no coincidence that he teaches six sections of the course. Senior Annika Olson has had Cohen for two years, APUSH her sophomore year and AP Euro her senior year. Olson recalls the lectures being so engaging because he loved the content and almost always had a story to tell about one of his Europe trips. “He definitely was always energetic about what he was doing and wanted everyone to do the best they could,” Olson said.