Students across Alabama benefiting from HudsonAlpha + its amazing STEM resources

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Most of us can think of a teacher who profoundly impacted our lives, but that teacher was never alone. It takes a village to raise a student, and HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology is filling the gap for the whole state.

With nearly all Alabama public schools using materials developed by HudsonAlpha and materials found in nearly every state in the US and 34 countries, HudsonAlpha’s education team is inspiring the next generation of scientists. They educate the public to make more informed medical decisions and work to develop innovative public health strategies that will shape the future of our health care.

Read on to learn how they’ve impacted four teachers across the state and check out their educational kits.

Q: Where do you teach + why do you love it?

Role call time! Let’s get to know this all-star teacher lineup:

• Nerissa DeRamus: She’s been teaching at Thompson High School in Alabaster for 24 years.
• Kendra Allen: She’s lost count at this point but thinks she’s in her 26th or 27th year at Opelika High School.
• Chenein Compton: She’s been teaching for 20 years at Oxford High School with Meredith Barkley.
• Meredith Barkley: She’s also been at Oxford High School for 20 years.

Why they love what they do:

Kendra:

“Teaching was not originally on my radar. There was a science teacher shortage in Mississippi while I was living there, so I decided to go for it. Once I started teaching, I fell in love with it, and I’m still here—20-something-odd years later. I always say I didn’t choose teaching; it chose me. “

Meredith:

“I had a moment where I asked myself, ‘What am I trying to live my life by?’ And I was reminded of my teachers. I had some really awesome teachers. So I just wanted to be the kind of teacher I had growing up.”

Nerissa:

“I thought about going to med school, but after I had my daughter, I wanted to find something where I could spend more time with her. A job became available in my hometown for a biology teacher, and at my interview, they hired me on the spot. Here I am, 24 years later, and I feel like this is what I’m supposed to be doing. I couldn’t see myself doing anything else.”

Chenein:

“I struggled with science in high school because I had to miss a lot of classes due to a family chronic illness. But in college, I had this professor who made me fall in love with science. And I just thought, ‘if you can love science and get to share that with other people to create that spark for them, what else would you want to do?’”

Learn more about field trips to HudsonAlpha and its many summer learning opportunities for students.

Q: How have HudsonAlpha’s resources been helpful?

Chenein:

“What I love about HudsonAlpha is that you not only go through these trainings and get cutting-edge research information—you also get materials to take back to your room that are yours forever.”

Kendra:

“I attended a HudsonAlpha workshop, and (HudsonAlpha President) Dr. (Neil) Lamb said something that has stuck with me—that most people take their high school biology to the doctor with them. I realized that my students were going to apply what I was teaching them to their everyday lives.

I’ve loved using hands-on resources like ‘ChromoSocks’ to teach them about genetics.”

Nerissa:

“I’ve loved the resources I’ve been able to bring into my classroom. My favorite kit is ‘Genes and Consequences’ because it takes you through the whole protein synthesis process step by step also with mutations, and you get a chance to learn about proteins that are affected by different disorders. I’ve been coming to the workshops since 2008.”

Meredith:

“After the workshop, I remember they told us to drive around the back side of the parking lot—all we had to do was open our trunk, and they would put this big tub of resources in our trunk and we could drive away with them. It felt like Christmas. We couldn’t believe we got to actually take these things home.

These kits help you further your own understanding as a teacher or explain something to a student in a new way if they’re struggling to understand.”

Q: What should other Alabama teachers know?

Kendra:

“At a workshop, HudsonAlpha showed me that I was teaching chromosomes wrong. There wasn’t any shaming in it; it was just informative. They gave us graphics to take home, and I left with a better understanding of genetics than when I first started teaching.

Anytime you go to a HudsonAlpha workshop, you’re going to walk away with something that you can immediately loop to your classroom.”

Chenein:

“After coming back from HudsonAlpha, I got to tell my students, ‘I learned something new yesterday.’ It was a moment to communicate that there’s always new learning to do, and as a teacher, you get to be a lifelong learner.”

Nerissa:

“I love coming back to my department with the new HudsonAlpha kits. All the other teachers are always like ‘What’s the next great kit we get to use?’ It’s an awesome resource to get to share with others.”

Meredith:

“Going to HudsonAlpha allows you to network and connect with other teachers across the state. If you get stuck on something, you have a group of other teachers that can support and help you.”

Learn more about HudsonAlpha’s STEM teaching resources

Madelene Loftin, Director of Educational Professional Learning, shares that HudsonAlpha’s overall goal is to empower teachers by connecting them with the resources they need.

““Many members of our Educational Outreach team—including myself—have classroom experience. We know what it feels like not to know if you’re doing the right things to help your students succeed.

The single biggest impactor of student achievement is a well-equipped teacher, and that means the teacher has to know their content, they have to be equipped to communicate, and they have to have the tools to put in kids’ hands to engage them with it. That’s where we fill the gap at HudsonAlpha.”

Madelene Loftin, Director of Educational Professional Learning, HudsonAlpha

HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology is a nonprofit institute dedicated to developing and applying scientific advances to health, agriculture, learning, and commercialization. Opened in 2008, HudsonAlpha has become a national and international leader in genetics and genomics research and biotech education and fosters more than 45 diverse biotech companies on campus. 

Check out HudsonAlpha’s public education program, “HudsonAlpha U.”

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