I am excited to join the Ankeny High School Administrative team for the 2019-20 school year and especially excited to be returning to Iowa.  The focus that I have in education is based in the roots of Nelson Mandela's statement that "Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world."  I firmly believe that as a school we are empowering students to make that difference in the world and look to bring opportunities to our students to make that change.

It has been quite a jorney that has brought me to Ankeny High School which has provided me a wealth of experiences.  I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, and attended Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, where I majored in Educational Policy and Political Science.  After completing my initial degree, I accepted a program management and engineering position with Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa where I worked on avionics programs for close to a decade.  During my time in engineering I also spent a year working for NASA on the Space Shuttle Cockpit upgrade and lived in Houston, Texas.

I always knew that I wanted to raise my family in the Midwest and moved back to Iowa to begin my teaching career.  I earned my Secondary Mathematics Teaching license through Cornell College followed by teaching mathematics in Olin, Iowa, and Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, for 6 years.  I began my administrative career in Beloit, Wisconsin.  I spent 6 years in Beloit in administration in both the middle school and high school levels as well as at district office before accepting a position at Cadott Junior/Senior High School in Cadott, Wisconsin, where I worked for 3 years before coming to Ankeny.

My passion for learning has continued throughout my careers in engineering and education.  I have earned a Bachelor of Science in Software and Systems Engineering at Mount Mercy University, a Masters of Arts in Educational Leadership from National Louis University, and I am currently working on my Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin – Madison with a focus on the impacts of student mobility on their educational outcomes.

I am joined in Ankeny by my wife, Angie, who grew up in Sioux City, Iowa, and is a registered nurse.  We are proud parents of our son, Alex, who is entering his 2^nd year at University of Iowa as a mechanical engineering major.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to me at any time through email or a phone call.

Peter.apple@ankenyschools.org

Office: 515.965.9630