Saul Bromberger

Mr. Henning and Ethan Katz pose with the Frederick Terman award.

In late April, MSE alumnus and Stanford graduate Ethan Katz won the Frederick Terman Award. This award is given to the top graduating student in each engineering discipline at Stanford, and an event is hosted each year in which the winning students choose a high school educator who had a significant impact on their academic journey.

After graduating from MSE as valedictorian in 2022, Katz chose to pursue Stanford’s Engineering Physics program, in part due to what he learned from Mr. Henning’s physics class. Katz chose to credit Mr. Henning due to his significant influence as a coach and teacher. He will be staying at Stanford one more year to get his master’s degree in computer science.

Frederick Terman—after whom the award is named—was the dean of Stanford from 1944 to 1958. He facilitated the connection between engineering education and industry, Mr. Henning explained, setting up many students with jobs and internships. This connection allowed many new technologies and businesses to flourish, earning him the nickname “the father of Silicon Valley.” 

Stanford flew all of the chosen educators out to the awards ceremony to deliver speeches to the graduates. Instead of only opting to rave about his former student’s accomplishments and reminisce about his time teaching Katz, as he noticed many of the other teachers had, Mr. Henning also imparted wisdom on the students present, inspired by the work of soon-to-be Stanford graduate and student journalist Theo Baker.

Baker—who is known for a 2023 exposé on former university president Marc Tessier-Lavigne’s falsified data, ultimately resulting in his resignation—has been highly critical of Stanford’s tech bubble. In an article released as a preview of his first book, How to Rule the World, Baker criticizes the ways in which Stanford’s culture has continued to foster connection between students and Silicon Valley businesses. He alleges that students are often offered mass amounts of money by tech startups, many of which fail, and encouraged to drop out of school early. Stanford is “mined” for talent through hyper-exclusive parties and clubs, and, as Baker puts it, “kids [are] being groomed to rule the world.” Mr. Henning had MSE students in his Innovation and Design class read Baker’s article.

With this in mind, Mr. Henning advised those in attendance to pursue job opportunities that would feel fulfilling and meaningful to them after graduating, rather than focusing on financial gain and upward mobility in Silicon Valley. You will have time for that later, he said; for now, explore and do work that will benefit the world. He never imagined being a high school teacher when he graduated from Stanford with a master’s in engineering, and yet he says it is much more rewarding to him than working in Silicon Valley ever was. He has undeniably shaped the minds of his students, from his time as a part-time lecturer at Stanford, to his 20 years here at MSE.

Educators are a vital—and often underappreciated—part of our journeys. Primary school teachers provide social, emotional, and cultural knowledge and build the necessary literary and mathematical foundations for future education. As students get older, the right guidance allows them to define their interests and career choices—though of course, your high school classes are not the end of learning and self-discovery; you may have yet to meet the teacher who will have the greatest impact on your life.

We have many mentors worthy of recognition here at MSE: Veronica Bozo (’26) says that, though she knew she liked architecture upon coming to MSE, conversations she had with Ms. Rasuk and Ms. DeLima “really solidified my decision” to major in the subject in college. These are the people who point us on the paths that lead to the rest of our lives.

We’ve all had teachers we’ve loved and teachers we’ve hated, but it is undeniable that each one has had an impact on our lives. Mr. Henning has had that impact on Ethan Katz: As a track coach, he allowed him to find his love for pole vaulting; as a physics teacher, he gave him the foundations of what he would go on to pursue in college; and as an Innovation and Design teacher, he taught him to find creative solutions to seemingly difficult problems. The Frederick Terman award ceremony truly highlighted the important role teachers play in shaping our futures.