Mr. Daniel Veve never  planned on becoming a teacher. Coming from a family of doctors and nurses, he initially attended medical school with the intention of becoming a doctor and fulfilling his childhood goal. 

“Ever since I was about five years old, I thought I wanted to be a doctor,” Mr. Veve said. “My dad’s a doctor, his dad’s a doctor, all that stuff. I even went to the same medical school that he went to.”

However, once he saw the daily work of a physician, Mr. Veve realized that though it was a matter of familial legacy, the medical path may not be the best fit for him. 

“Medical school is a different animal altogether,” Mr. Veve said. “The classroom part was just like college but a little bit more beefed up. But then I started doing my rotations within the hospital and seeing what the real work of a physician was like — it was very daunting to me. I remember a time in my third year where I said, ‘I don’t know if I can do this for 30 years’. So I started talking with my parents a lot, I talked with my teachers there and whatnot, and just decided it was best for me to move on.”

Even though the medical path didn’t end up being a fit, Mr. Veve still had a passion for science, which he decided to channel into teaching. The current biology teacher and tennis coach was just recognized as the 2024-2025 Teacher of the Year, a distinction that would have never been possible without his decision to make the daunting switch from pre-med to education. 

“Science was always very interesting to me,” Mr. Veve said. “I mean, coming from a very medical family, it stood to reason that that stuff was all around me at all times. And [even] with me turning away from medical school, I still loved science, and I had all this knowledge that I wanted to share, so I figured, well, let’s teach science.”

Contributing to the Westwood community in diverse ways, Mr. Veve wears a lot of hats. From teaching three biology-centered classes to coaching the school’s tennis team, being able to devote time and energy to all his responsibilities is a delicate balancing act. 

“It’s not easy, and anybody that would say that it is easy is a little disingenuous,” Mr. Veve said. “But it’s fun. And the way that you balance it is, for me, I became a teacher first. And I was a teacher for six years before I was a coach. So I really learned to balance all that comes with teaching, because that’s my first job. I added in the coaching, which is a sport that I grew up playing, so that helps. But really, it comes down to what I try to teach my freshmen: time management and making yourself a schedule, sticking to it, and just generally being accountable to your future self.”

While coaching a sport and teaching biology may seem inherently different, Mr. Veve finds similarities in what he  teaches in the classroom and what he instills in his athletes.

“The idea of having integrity goes both ways with students,” Mr. Veve said. “In the classroom, when you talk about having integrity, it looks like not taking the easy way out when it’s presented to you, really doing the work, digging in and trying to enjoy the work. With my athletes, it becomes when they’re out practicing on their own, are they really practicing effectively, or are they just playing around? The definition is, are you doing the right thing when no one’s looking? That’s the biggest overlap I find with athletics and the classroom.”

Science as a discipline allows students to not only delve deeper into the world that surrounds them, but evaluate preexisting knowledge and create their own through labs and experiments. Mr. Veve’s innate passion for and extensive knowledge of science is apparent in all of his classes as he tries to foster the same love of science in his students. 

“Science can offer a comfort that few courses can,” Mr. Veve said. “It’s the comfort of basing everything off of fact. You can search for facts, you can experiment, you can gather data, and you can analyze that data to find out just about anything. The great thing about it is that it’s always changing, and what you find out today may change 20 years from now. There’s this constant cycle of learning, but everything about science is always wrapped in that nice warm blanket of facts, which I love.”

Under the broad umbrella of science, Mr. Veve teaches three different science classes on campus: freshman Advanced Biology, IB Biology for upperclassmen in the diploma programme, and Biomedical Interventions for seniors on a pre-med track. Regardless of the differing rigor of the courses, it doesn’t change what draws Mr. Veve to science as a discipline. 

“What initially drew me to the IB curriculum was that it’s higher-level science,” Mr. Veve said. “Getting to use some of that knowledge that I had gained [in medical school] and teach those upper-level classes, that’s the initial draw. What kept me there and what made me come back here is the group of teachers. Here, especially at Westwood, the IB teachers are wonderful. They’re brilliant, and they have a lot to share and a lot for me to learn from them. The IB curriculum in general, it’s very inclusive for all sorts of perspectives all across the world. With the addition of the [Theory of Knowledge] (TOK) class and that kind of thinking, that really allows us to inject that into the curriculum and push students a little bit harder, I think.”

Despite the challenges that a higher-level science class can present, Mr. Veve hopes for his students to enjoy the experience of being in his class, and the camaraderie that they build throughout the year.

“I want [my students] to have fun, I really do,” Mr. Veve said. “I know that’s cheesy to say, but I want them to have a good time. I want them to remember my class as one where they were given a lot of freedom to explore and collaborate and do all of that. Also, I want them to know that I always had their back and was always there to give them advice and help them through it. That they weren’t doing it alone.”

Teaching is not a stagnant career. The time commitment, energy, and passion that is required of a teacher to adapt to their circumstances often goes unrecognized and underappreciated. However, all these moving parts of teaching are something that Mr. Veve appreciates.

“What I value about the career, number one, is this is definitely one of those careers that is not the same every day,” Mr. Veve said. “You may teach the same class year after year, but you never have the same group of students. Every single day is different. Every single day presents new and more interesting challenges. The other thing I value about this career is the fact that it brings me closer to my own children as they start going through school. My oldest is in second grade. Understanding how public school systems work and things like that help me be a better father to him.”

Recently awarded with the coveted Teacher of the Year award, Mr. Veve joined the community of high-performing staff members that have made invaluable contributions to the campus. This is Mr. Veve’s first time being recognized. 

“I was very grateful [when I heard I was Teacher of the Year],” Mr. Veve said. “It’s one thing to be recognized by certain peers like teachers you work with all the time. But to have that recognition from across the campus and students and all that sort of stuff is a really good feeling. It’s very humbling and I’m super grateful.”