A grant for those who plan to teach STEM in high-need school districts helped open doors for Jenna Yarger ’18 Mowery, now a chemistry teacher at Shikellamy High School in Sunbury, Pa.
“Because of that, I interned at SU’s Science in Motion program. This allowed me to get my foot in the door at some local schools,” Mowery says. “It also gave me some experience in high school labs and how it feels to be in charge of a lab.”
The chemistry-secondary education major says our education program gave her the tools to hit the ground running her first year as a teacher.
“I felt very prepared for the first day of school,” Mowery says.
“That isn’t true of all schools, especially if you go to a large campus. They made it feel as if we were a little family,” Mowery adds.
After graduating, Mowery subbed for a few local high schools before landing her position at Shikellamy, where she had completed her student teaching.
“It is amazing how much I learn from my students on a daily basis, and I love being able to see them grow not just as scientists, but as people in society,” she says.
