Most people don’t truly know what they want to do with their life until they approach the end of high school. Childhood fantasies of “firefighter” and “astronaut” are left behind as children form more tangible passions that dictate what they want to spend their years doing.
Others, however, have a strong idea of what they’ll do even from a young age. This is the case for one Kristen Daugherity, honors chemistry and honors nutrition science teacher, who knew from a young age that she wanted to dedicate her life to helping others.
Daugherity comes from a “family of a lot of teachers,” so it isn’t surprising that she would become one herself. Daugherity originally considered going into either medicine or education, before deciding that education was the “better route.” Deciding what subject to teach was rather easy, as well. “I’ve always loved chemistry,” Daugherity said, “It was my favorite science subject to learn about in school.” Thus, when deciding on what to do in college, Daugherity decided to “switch from a pre-med major in college to a chemistry education major.”
Daugherity’s decision to also teach nutrition was not directly caused by her interest in pursuing a medical career. Daugherity said, “In college, I had started to get into a lot of health and fitness, and looking at improved ways to get more out of my diet,” and that “It was always this area of interest to me.” Daugherity said, “I like the real-life application of nutrition science, and I do feel like it is the kind of class where the things we learn about are things that will stick with you for the rest of your life.”
Daugherity has long focused on making sure that her students are as successful as possible. Daugherity said, “I have had three students who have gone on to become registered dieticians, and they’ve said ‘my learning in your nutrition class helped me decide that I wanted to do this as a career,’ so I do think that that is one of the most rewarding things that I’ve experienced as a teacher, to know that I’ve impacted students in such a way that what they’ve learned in my class made them want to pursue a career.”
Daugherity makes it very clear that she loves teaching. “I wouldn’t drive an hour to and from work each day if I didn’t love what I did,” she said, and a major part of that is making sure her students are happy. Daugherity said, “I would love to change this pressure the students feel to take so many APs each year, and I feel sad sometimes when the students get overwhelmed with the rigorous course load that they’re taking, and they feel like they need to do this in order to feel successful at this school.”
Daugherity said, “It’s okay to not be in all honors courses, or to only take two APs a year,” and “in the long run, you’ll be better off if you take on a manageable workload that allows you to be successful in all of your classes.” In a time where schools are becoming more and more competitive and college seems to slip further away each day, voices like Daugherity’s are what students need to hear.
