top of page

Meet our Science Teachers!

Mr. Kovalcin

Physics Teacher

Mr. Kovalcin has coached many students is US Olympiad team. He wrote Physics textbook. He has taught physics for over 36 years at various institutions, including Monmouth County Science and Engineering Center at Manalapan High School. He has been teaching a combination of AP physics, C Mechanics, and Electricity & Magnetism, AP Physics I, II, Olympiad Physics, Honor Physics, and regular Physics. He is dedicated, well-organized, and thorough. Over the last decade, he coached the Manalapan HS Physics team in the National Science League to first place. He can clearly and accurately explain difficult concepts so that they can be easily understood. He can also explain the basis and origin of the laws of physics, as well as their applications. Every class, Mr. Kovalcin spent significant amount of time to focus on individual student’s needs. he uses variety of experiment equipment and tools to help student understand the concepts in Physics. Majority of Mr. Kovalcin’s AP students got perfect score of 5. Minority of students got 4. Very few got 3 if any. Mr. Kovalcin is a teacher you don’t want to miss if you are studying Physics.

Mr. Milan

Biology and Chemistry Teacher

Mr. Milan has a Comprehensive science certificate with nearly 40 years of experience. He has taught AP Chemistry, AP Biology, Chemistry, Honors Biology and Lab Physics. Mr. Milan’s experiences teaching multiple sciences allows him to connect concepts common to all the sciences, when students recognize the common themes in science, the class becomes easier to understand.  He is familiar with the concepts that students have trouble with and have developed numerous methods to make the concept clear.  In AP courses he builds students' toolboxes for free response questions, identifying examples that can be used in multiple places. I work on test taking skills and show student to reason an answer with the information that they know and that a correct answer can be derived from a number of directions. Mr. Milan has helped countless students achieving top or perfect scores in AP exams.

Mr. Perry

Math and Computer Science Teacher

Mr. Perry is a certified math teacher with 15 years teaching experience with a master’s degree on Computer Science from NYU. He has taught all levels of Math including SAT/ACT Math and Science, Pre- Calculus, Algebra I & II, Geometry and Pre-Algebra, and AP Computer Science. Mr. Perry is well liked by his students for his patient attitude and his personalization of his teaching to meet each student’s unique needs. He is an expert at diagnosing and remediating student’s weaknesses so that they can achieve their maximum potential. Students taught by Mr. Perry have been extremely successful, getting admission to extremely competitive colleges.

Ms. Janel Powers

Biology Teacher

Ms. Powers, with over 35 years of teaching experience on college and high school Biology, AP Biology, is currently the lead teacher of AP Biology magnet program in the Science and Engineering Center of Monmouth County located at Manalapan High School. Ms. Powers is also the advisor and coach to the Biology teams competing in the NJ State Science League and the Science Olympiad.  Ms. Powers is well-versed on how to prepare students for the AP Biology Exam with the majority of her Science & Engineering students scoring 5's and some 4's. She has a Masters Degree in Life Science and is able to guide students toward being successful with the abundant resources she makes available to them during the course. 

Ms. Mona Patel 

Biology Teacher

Ms Patel, with over 20 years of teaching experience on Biology snd AP Biology and a Master’s degree in Secondary Education, specializing in Life Sciences, has developed a skill set directly relevant to teaching different levels of students on Honors Biology, CP Biology, AP Biology, Honors Anatomy and Physiology, and elective Science classes such as Emerging Diseases and Science, Technology, and Society.  She also coaches Science League and have advised Science National Honor Society. Ms Patel thoroughly enjoys teaching these courses with inquiry based Science practices such as cause and effect with CER (claim, evidence, and reasoning) experiments. She knows what it takes to help students succeed in the classroom and earn perfect score in AP exam.

Dr. Vela

Chemistry Teacher

Dr. Vela is a licensed chemistry teacher with a Ph.D. degree in Chemistry and over 20 years of teaching experience. He has experience teaching all levels of high chemistry including AP chemistry as well at the university level. 90% of his AP chemistry students earn a 5 out of 5! Dr. Vela can help students develop problem-solving skills and break down some of the most challenging topics into smaller, more manageable steps. He has experienced teaching students of all abilities and all types of learners, using many different skills to teach each curriculum topic in comprehensible and different ways. He is friendly, patient, outgoing, and really cares about his students.

bottom of page