Klint Kanopka: Where Physics Reigns Supreme.

Text by Bree Wood. Images by G.W. Miller III.

Some may know Klint Kanopka better as the bassist of the local hardcore band Reign Supreme. But talking to him as Mr. Kanopka, as his students from Academy at Palumbo call him, you realize he is the teacher you all wish you had in school — truly passionate and loving what he does.

You would have to love everything you do to manage the crazy schedule Kanopka does. He is a full-time high school teacher who is also going to grad school at Drexel and he tours the world with Reign Supreme.

“It takes a lot of effort and I have to be organized,” he says. “But it’s all worth it.” 

When Kanopka was a high school student, he didn’t have any inspiration from teachers to go into physics. What sparked his interest were the books The Pleasure of Finding Things Out and Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard Feynman. These titles made physics accessible to people and they became a big part of Kanopka’s philosophy in teaching.

“My favorite thing about my job is that I show up, drink coffee, make fun of teens, teach physics and go home,” Kanopka says with a smirk. “But on a serious note, I like that I bring physics to my students. It’s fascinating that people are devoted to doing physics and learning how the world works. It’s awesome, but there isn’t a diverse group. It’s underserved.”

The students at Palumbo, located near 11th and Christian streets in South Philadelphia, are inner-city kids with experiences that could benefit the physics community at-large, Kanopka says. He feeds off of their excitment and enthusiasm.

“Most teachers want to be at a bougie school with a big budget and a lot of resources but that doesn’t appeal to me,” he says. “Whoever teaches those kids, they will be fine. My life is spent feeling alienated, so why wouldn’t I want to work with kids who feel the same way as I do? To me, that is my only option. No one wants to be here and I do. It’s great.”

Kanopka is worried about the Philadelphia School District, recognizing that schools are closing and others are being pushed to privatize. Public schools, as he knows them, are in trouble.

“Charter schools want to turn a profit on their students,” states Kanopka. “Running a school to turn a profit is messed up to me.”

And with the sciences already not getting the attention they need in the public school curriculum, it may be that the knowledge of physics will no longer be accessible to everyone, despite its importance.

“It is used in every day life,” Kanopka says of the subject. “It could be a problem as simple as everything falls at the same rate, or what to expect from light and circuits. I think it is my job to bring this information to the students and make it interesting. I would like to see districts be like my school and SLA (Science Leadership Academy), Masterman and Central (high schools), etc. They have purpose and a mission. It is a certain type of student who attends the school and it creates a community. Having a district school that has curriculum autonomy can create an identity for a school. It is an amazing concept and needs to be pushed.”

Kids learn physics through experiments, so a lot of Kanopka’s teaching time is spent doing projects (he hates tests and homework as much as his students do).

He does everything from building your own musical instruments to action figure bungee jumping.

Kanopka enjoys passing his passion for physics along to his students.

“I can only see myself in a classroom setting,” says Kanopka. “I would like to be a department head, or possibly a curriculum writer for the district one day. But I like inspiring my students.”