Bringing an interactive experience to the classroom

SEELEY LAKE - New Seeley-Swan High School science teacher Gretchen Watkins hopes to keep her students engaged for the 2021-2022 school year.

"I try to be as interactive as possible," she wrote in an email. "I find most students learn science best if they can be a part of ... doing the activities that we are learning about."

She will be teaching all grades in earth and space science, biology and chemistry classes.

Watkins has a broadfield certification for secondary science in Montana. She also received a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1997 and Master of Science degree in environmental engineering from Michigan Technological University in 1999.

The first 20 years of Watkins' professional life were spent working as a hydrologist, engineer and water resource specialist for various public and private institutions including Glacier National Park, the U.S. Forest Service, the University of Wisconsin Center for Limnology and the Lac Du Flambeau Tribe. She has also authored and directed multiple research and regulation grants for more than $1 million as well as published several legal and technical reports for the sake of protecting human health and the environment.

She decided to go into teaching in 2015 when she taught a community college night class while working as a water scientist.

"I really enjoyed teaching and wanted to help people understand science more," she wrote. "Most of my community college students never took chemistry and many of them had doors closed because they never took it. So I wanted to make sure that students felt like they could learn anything they wanted and not be intimidated by science."

Watkins comes from a small lake community in northern Wisconsin and was interested in applying for the teaching position because she thought that Seeley Lake would make her "feel at home but way cooler with mountains."

She does not intend to make any major changes to how classes have previously been facilitated in her first year. She expects her biggest challenge to be getting to know the classroom resources inside and out and aligning it to the curriculum.

She is mostly looking forward to getting to know her students' strengths and weaknesses so she can use her science background and field experience to help them learn.

"I hope my science, engineering and teaching background will help Seeley Swan students learn to love science and see the value of science in their lives," she wrote.

When Watkins is not working she enjoys being outside and hanging out with her family.