Best of the best – Redmond High teacher wins chemistry society award

Over the summer, Brian Schnierer, chemistry teacher at Redmond High School, won the American Chemical Society’s Puget Sound Section 2025 High School Teacher of the Year award. The award is given to nominees who demonstrate quality in their teaching, an ability to inspire and challenge students, and extracurricular work in chemistry or a chemical science. The award comes with $250 cash plus $750 for science supplies, and an invitation to the awards dinner that takes place on September 27 at Renton Technical College.  

Below is an entry about Schnierer written for the award:

Since middle school Brian always wanted to be a teacher, initially in math. When he was attending Redmond HS and had AP Chemistry he fell in love with it. After graduating from Redmond High, Brian went to UC Davis for 5 years for chemistry and education, then returned to Washington for a teaching job. He taught at Franklin HS for 5 years, and this coming year will be 14 at Redmond HS. He has taught general 9th grade physical science, honors chemistry and physics, astronomy, 10th grade physics, AP Chemistry and general chemistry.

He always tells students that Seaborgium is the greatest element, because Glenn T. Seaborg is a name worthy of a Bond villain. His work on the (most recent major) correction to the periodic table helped set the stage for the modern chemistry of the last 70 years, while his work on the Manhattan Project certainly has villain vibes. Something he always tries to give context to when teaching students is that scientists are just people that are complex, and there is always good and bad in a person's life to learn from. I feel like Seaborg's work represented that duality well.

Brian was nominated by his colleague, Kirby Zornes, a 2018 recipient of the ACS High School Chemistry Teacher Award who said, “Brian is one of the smartest, hardest working teachers I have ever met. He is willing to bend over backwards to have students understand chemistry. His teaching ability, his humor, and his respect for students make him an amazing educator!”