For many history buffs, school can be kind of boring. Whether it’s going over the same things you’ve known since primary school or skipping over entire periods to make a deadline, it can kill one’s love of historical education.

However, the right teacher can change that entire experience. Coach Eric Coovert not only understands what makes history interesting, he knows how to keep everyone in the class engaged. Working in various levels throughout his career and many places all across east Texas, Coovert has really made an impact on Kingwood Park – on the football field, the wrestling mat and especially in the classroom winning Teacher of the Year in 2023.

Coovert is dedicated not only to the academics of his students but their personal lives as well. Daily good things are a daily staple in any AP Euro or Dual Credit US History classroom.

My personal favorite story about Coach, and one that I believe perfectly encapsulates his devotion to history, involves a book recommendation. Earlier in the year in AP European History, the class began discussing the late 19th century and the beginnings of the Russian Revolution. 

In step with this topic there was a book I’d been given over the summer and began reading that discussed in depth the October phase of said revolution. I mentioned the book to Coach Coovert and how I had liked it so far, and he immediately went to Amazon to purchase a copy. Not even half a week later Coach was already done with a book that had taken me a month to read.

He began discussing with me the nuances of its historical interpretation. That is a kind of passion that you don’t see very often, especially from someone with as much on their plate as Coach Coovert and describes to a T why he is so special of a teacher and my favorite that I’ve had over my high school career.