Dr. Steven Chu Dr. Steven Chu, a 1997 Nobel Prize recipient in physics, and graduate of Garden City High School was named on Wednesday as President-elect Barak Obama's choice for Energy Secretary. Steven Chu grew up in Garden City, the community selected by his parents for "the quality of the public school system," Chu wrote in a recent autobiography.

"We are delighted to hear of Dr. Chu's nomination," commented Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Robert Feirsen, "and deeply appreciate the words of commendation he used to describe the education he received in Garden City. We hope Dr. Chu's accomplishment will be an inspiration to our students."

"He was a nice kid - kind of quiet," commented former Garden City High School teacher, Dr. Eugene Decker about Steven Chu, a student in his chemistry class back in the 1960's. Clearly, still waters run deep, as Steven, went on to accomplish much in his career after graduating from the high school in 1966.

Steven credits his pursuit of physics to a dynamic Garden City High School teacher, Thomas Miner, a colleague of Dr. Decker's, who remembers his dedication to his physics students well. "The teacher who really pushed Steven was Tom Miner," commented Dr. Decker. "As part of the physics curriculum, he had students develop their own projects. He worked with the students after school with no pay - he was amazing." This was where Steven Chu found the inspiration that later served him so well.

"My physics teacher was particularly gifted," Chu wrote. "Mr. Miner encouraged ambitious laboratory projects. For the better part of my last semester at Garden City High School, I constructed a physical pendulum and used it to make a 'precision' measurement of gravity. Twenty-five years later, I was to develop a refined version of this measurement using laser-cooled atoms in an atomic fountain interferometer." This work led to Dr. Chu and two colleagues receiving the 1997 Nobel Prize in physics.

Tom Miner passed away in 1991. How happy he would have been to learn that the quiet student who loved building things in his physics classroom would go on to lead the new administration's 21st Century energy program.