Welcome to another great year at Piedmont Middle!! My name is Robert Egnot and this is my 11th year teaching, 9 of those years here at Piedmont. I am originally from Pittsburgh, PA where I lived for 26 years. I graduated from Indiana University of PA with a bachelors in political science/international studies degree. I moved to Charlotte in 2006 where I attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte receiving my masters certificate in Education, and in 2015 I graduated from Winthrop University with my Masters degree in Education (Curriculum and Instruction for Middle School). I am an avid hockey fan and the back to back Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins are my favorite team. I also played ice hockey for well over 30 years both competitively and now recreationally. I also love Notre Dame football (Go Irish!!). I have a hound dog named Foster as well. I absolutely love social studies and wanted to dedicate my career to this subject because I think it is so very important. I love history, especially 20th century history and politics. I have been spending the last seven years studying the Holocaust and "Acts of Genocide", which has become both my passion and my obsession. My hope is to have the opportunity to create a Genocide/Social Justice course one day so students can see how important it is to study the past. I always tell the kids "this is the story of human beings and we can learn a lot from those that lived so that we can grow as we live". Student's will get a wonderful opportunity to discover such diverse cultures, religions, and history by studying the world history from the time of the Age of Exploration to modern times. One of the goals here at Piedmont is to provide our students with globalized education using the IB program. My goal is to use the concepts and curriculum provided by IB to shape our thinking so ALL students understand tolerance and perspective as we learn about different cultures or tough/sensitive material. We will take a journey through key events such as exploration, middle passage, cultural diffusion, revolution, enlightenment, world wars, government/economics, genocides, cold war ideologies, and modern triumphs and tragedies of the 21st century.. The projects will be very interactive throughout and challenging. I am a big believer in Project-based learning and we will be using specific topics throughout the year to display knowledge and mastery through projects. My goal for the year is for my students to have a better understanding of social studies and broaden their minds to new ideas and cultures. I will try my very best to "Bring History Alive". I look forward to working with all of you this year. Mr. Robert Egnot