E19: College Connections | Em Beeler | Class of 2022

Jon Cain: For some people, college is a place you go and get your degree. For others, it's a place you're drawn to, and you keep coming back to year after year. That strong connection is the case for our guest on the WPI podcast. She first visited Worcester Polytechnic Institute in middle school. Now she's an alum who's been back several times. She does it to keep learning and to share her knowledge with the next generation. Today's episode is all about college connections. Hi, I'm Jon Cain. The WPI Podcast is your home for news and expertise from our classrooms and labs. I'm here at the WPI Global Lab in the innovation studio on campus. Today's guest is across the table from me; Em Beeler graduated from WPI in 2022. She's a high school teacher in Worcester, and she spent part of her summer at WPI doing scientific research and preparing to bring that experience back to her students. Em, thanks for being part of the WPI podcast. 

Em Beeler: Thanks for having me. I'm always happy to be back on campus.

Cain: And we'll find out exactly what she means by that, uh, coming up. Um. And first off, I'm wondering if you could tell me a little bit about yourself. What do you do and what are you all about?

Beeler: Yeah, so I am a lifelong Worcester resident. Born here, raised here. I'm a high school math teacher in the Worcester Public Schools. And I am a WPI alum a little bit two times over, once for high school, once for college, and I love math. That tends to be my fun fact and nobody else finds it as fun as I do, unfortunately.

Cain: I'm not sure if we're gonna have a math quiz in the podcast today, but we'll see how it goes. 

Beeler: I could whip one up by the end. 

Cain: I'm afraid I would fail. But pop quiz, that does get the blood pressure going, does it? 

Beeler: Yes, it does.

Cain: Um, what school do you teach at in Worcester? 

Beeler: So, I teach at Burncoat Senior High School, which is Worcester's arts magnet. So, I get the kids who sometimes they're like, oh, I don't like math, I only like music, or I only like theater. And I'm like, ah, by the end of the year I'll make you see all the math in what you do. 

Cain: It's a mission.

Beeler: Yes, it is. 

Cain: And when you were at WPI, what was your major? 

Beeler: So, I was a math major with a computer science minor. So, lots of time spent in the basement of Stratton Hall,

Cain: So, in the Worcester schools, what grade level and what type of math do you teach? 

Beeler: Oh, it's all over the place, which is fun. So, I have taught Algebra two, which tends to be anywhere from sophomores to seniors. I have taught AP Stats, which tends to be our juniors and seniors. And then this year I'll be teaching Algebra one, which is our freshman. So, I get to see these kids in all stages of their high school lives. And I think the best part of teaching such a wide range is when I see my students first as like sophomores in algebra two and then when they come back to me as seniors in AP stats, it's so much fun to see how much they've grown just in two years. Teaching takes up a lot of my life, which is good. 

Cain: So, let's explore that a little bit further. What drives you to teach math and what excites you about the subject and working with the kids in general? 

Beeler: Ooh, three parts there. So, I love math, and I love teaching math. I tell the kids I like it because you get to create problems as much as you solve them. And I tell them that I love to create problems. So sometimes they like my problems, sometimes they don't. But I just love math because it really, it's not about the solution and so many people think it is, it's about the process. And math as a whole, I think is just a beautiful way that humans have seen all these natural patterns and tried to create a language for it. So, I think it's beautiful and fun. Teaching it in particular, like just being able to see the moment where my students go, oh, I see this pattern. Oh, I recognize this. Oh, I understand this, that aha moment has always been a driving force for me. Like I love, love seeing that. And teaching in general I think is a lot of fun. I get to do something different every day, some days I'll be a game show host, you know, quizzing them and trying to make it fun. And some days I feel like an evil scientist, you know, trying to put them through this labyrinth all in an attempt to get them to practice these problems. 

Cain: I guess you have to be prepared for any of those scenarios on a given day and be on your, on your toes.

Beeler: Oh, absolutely. 

Cain: Do you wanna explore a little bit more what you mean by math being not just about problems, but about solutions? What does that mean to you? 

Beeler: So, good question. 

Cain: We're going deep here on the WPI podcast. 

Beeler: I know. I know. I guess in the classroom, one of the most basic ways I show that is like, if you give me just an answer, I don't want it. No work, no credit. Right. You need to be able to explain to me how you got there. If you can't explain to me your thinking, it's not super useful. In high school that looks like really teaching students to value their process, take ownership of what they're doing. You know, I don't care that you got the right, well, I, okay. I do care that they get the right answer. But I'm really more interested in their thinking, how did they get there? Because if they got the right answer, but in a really specific way, that actually shows that they're kind of thinking about it in the wrong way. Right? Wrong path, right answer. That could be good for that particular situation. And maybe in that wrong path, they found some sort of branch off that leads to some more interesting thinking. But I wanna make sure that the process is correct and it can be applied to other things. 

Cain: I guess that's what my high school math teachers meant when they said, show your work.

Beeler: Yes, yes.

Cain: I'd love to explore your journey and how you got to where you are today as a teacher. So why not start at the beginning and, I was really curious if you could tell me when was the first time that you stepped onto the WPI campus and what did you think about it? 

Beeler: Yeah, so the first time I was on WPI campus that I can remember, I'm sure I've driven past it probably upwards of 10,000 times in my life, living in Worcester, um, but was for a Touch Tomorrow event when I was in middle school and I went with my best friend. And I just remember walking around the quad and inside the athletic complex and seeing everything and just my mind being blown that like there was all this cool stuff, all this science happening in my city, I'm like, we only had to drive 15 minutes to get here and this has been happening.

Cain: Touch Tomorrow, for folks that don't know it, it's a festival series that WPI held to invite people, from the community, really anywhere to learn about science, technology, engineering, and math. And that legacy lives on today through WPI’s pre-collegiate outreach programs. Those include academic programs on a variety of subjects for middle and high school students and WPI holds them on campus during the summer and even during the school year. So, you know, you got to have an experience like that. Did it feel like sort of stepping into a different world without having to travel too far from home?

Beeler: It did a little bit. Um, I feel like sometimes in Worcester, things can feel a little bit far, like Boston is an hour away and when you're 12, an hour is so, so long. Um, so having the opportunity, I think to yeah, step into that world when it's not so far away was super cool. And I remember I was like; I have to buy a T-shirt. So, I like took out my $20, which may as well be a hundred when you're, you know, 13 years old and they all got a WPI T-shirt. And wore it for a long time, so, yeah. 

Cain: Yeah. I was gonna ask if you  still have it. 

Beeler: I had it for until I was in college at least, because I remember I bought like a men's medium and the student selling it to me was like, don't you want like a kid's size? And another student was like, well, maybe she wants to use it as a pajama shirt. And the other student was right.

Cain: There you go. 

Beeler: Yeah. 

Cain: . So, from there, uh, obviously it sounded like that ignited, you know, or continued to fuel an interest in science and math and whatnot. And I understand when you were in high school, you took classes at WPI, right? 

Beeler: Yeah, so I was a student at WPI's Mass Academy, which is an 11th and 12th grade high school, a public high school. And my senior year. I took classes  and it was basically like my senior year of high school was my freshman year of college. So, it was a great opportunity. Super fast paced, which I've always loved about WPI. 

Cain: That's the Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science at WPI, it's a statewide school of excellence for 11th and 12th graders. Seniors at the school enroll in classes at WPI full time. What was that experience like to, get that opportunity to be taking college level courses while you're still, um, in high school. 

Beeler: It was a lot of fun, and it felt like it was sort of the challenge I had been seeking for a lot of high school. I am kind of a problem starter or a problem maker, especially when I'm bored. So, I would, unfortunately, in my ninth and 10th grade classes, I'd be, you know, in the back of the math class making up my own problems. So, it was nice to have problems that I could actually attack and be like, oh, this requires, you know, a good amount of thought, which was super exciting. And it was fun a little bit to be, you know, the little kid in the big college. I remember myself and all the other students from Mass Academy, we'd be like in a little bubble in the front of the class, which was, you know, in retrospect I'm like, ugh, I don't know how I would feel as a college student about that. I feel like as a college student I was like, ugh, that was so embarrassing. And now as a teacher I'm like, ugh. Like I was so embarrassed for no reason.

Cain: I think. You had mentioned to me previously that when you were in high school, not only did you get to take some classes at WPI, all your senior classes at WPI, but you also got to present at a national consortium that was held at WPI.

Beeler: Yes. So that was the National Consortium of Secondary STEM Schools, which Mass Academy, I believe, is still a member of, and so we invited all these secondary STEM schools that were part of this consortium to come to Worcester and to present, the science and the engineering and the technology and the math that they had been working on. And that was a really cool experience to meet students who were in similar positions who had gone to similar programs in their high school. There were, I remember we had students, I believe, from Kazakhstan, which was really awesome to meet with. There were students who were from Utah, which was cool since most of my family's over there. So that was a really great experience just to share our ideas and not be super intimidated because we were all high schoolers. And in Mass Academy you have a lot of opportunities to present. There's the STEM Fair, which happens every year in the campus center and so they open that, and you have to present the project you've been working on all year. There's the Apps Fair, which my year was one of the anniversaries of Mass Academy. So, we wound up presenting the applications we had been making for the past, like four months, again in the campus center. It wasn't super intimidating and I'm really grateful that I was sort of trained to do a good poster presentation early on. 

Cain: I say, no pressure. You make it sound so easy. And after Mass Academy, you didn't end up traveling too far for college. You ended up attending WPI. How did you end up in WPI’s Teacher Preparation Program, which is a program that lets students pursue a state teaching license in conjunction with majoring in the STEM field of their choice. 

Beeler: So, I love Worcester. I mean, there's a reason I've stayed here. Um, I felt pretty settled at WPI, as I mentioned. I really like the terms, um, the seven weeks. Just, I've always really liked how fast it goes. Where if it's a class you like, then you have opportunities in the next terms to keep pursuing that. And if it's a class you don't like, it's only for seven weeks. You can do anything. 

Cain:  Done like that, right?

Beeler:  Yeah. You can do anything for seven weeks. Um, so I studied math. But I was initially a computer science major, and that's actually in one of my computer science classes. I had this moment where I was like, oh, I really like teaching. So, I was in a conference for one of my computer science classes and we were talking about bitwise operations. So, essentially how the computer, you know, can adjust those zeros and ones and do all the math essentially with them. And I noticed that there was someone next to me who was kind of struggling with this concept, and I was like, I have a pretty good handle on it. So, I like was sitting next to her and I was like, okay, here's what I think's going on. And so, I was talking about it for a while and then I’m like having a really good time discussing it. And I look up and like the whole conference is looking over because I have a big mouth and I'm probably talking a little too loud. But I just, I had a really good time giving that explanation and the student I was working with felt better about it afterwards and. Just the previous month, I wanna say, I had received in the mail, like an honest to goodness flyer in the mail about the WPI Teacher Preparation Program. That made me aware that this was an option. And so, in that moment I was like, wow, like that was really fun. Looking back, I think I've always really enjoyed teaching, so I like ran over to my academic advisor and I was like, I think I wanna be a teacher and I wanna join this program. What do I do? And I applied and got in and it was great. I did my student teaching for my IQP, and I did that at Doherty Memorial High School. So, just down the road from here. Spring 2021. So, I started off online and if you have ever student taught, you know, it's hard. And so just imagine student teaching online when your internet is not always the best.

Cain: Talk about getting extra credit. It's like there's a challenge right off the bat. 

Beeler: Yeah, it was a lot. I learned a lot, but it was a lot of fun too. And I graduated with not just my bachelor's, but also my license in secondary math education and here I am.

Cain: The IQP, that's the Interactive Qualifying Project, a junior year level project. here at WPI required for graduation. So, you decided to explore the Teacher Preparation Program. How was that process in terms of applying and making that switch?  Cause you were already sort of, you know, fairly well into your college career.

Beeler: Yeah. I'd say it was actually pretty seamlessly integrated, um, into my sophomore year. So the application process, I just filled out your typical application talking about, what I wanted to teach, why I wanted to be a teacher, and then there was an interview and then you sit and wait, and then once you do get in, then there are a couple of extra classes that you have to take to sort of prepare you for teaching but they fit in pretty well into my class schedule, and I was actually able to apply them to my major as some of the electives and some of the interdisciplinary classes. 

Cain: I imagine it's a somewhat smaller group of students. What are the relationships like within that program as you're sort of figuring out how to be a teacher together, and I imagine others were having that student teaching experience, uh, during the pandemic that probably needed to talk things through with your colleagues?

Beeler: Oh yeah, so we became super close in my cohort. So, within your year cohort you're sort of split into folks who do their student teaching in the fall, and folks who do their student teaching in the spring. Especially within the folks including myself who were doing their student teaching in the spring, we were super close. One of the things we did as part of our IQP was weekly meetings with the director of the teacher prep program to talk about educational strategies. But one of the things that she worked in was some decompression time where we were able to talk together about all the things we were experiencing as student teachers, and so I'm still in touch with the two other people that I taught with, and it was much needed to have that space to decompress. I think teachers build that into their schedules and lunch, and I've definitely spent quite a few days after work staying longer than I expected just talking with my coworkers. 

Cain: Students in the Teacher Preparation Program at WPI are eligible to apply for the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program. That's a National Science Foundation funded program that helps support people who want to go into math and science teaching in high need districts. Can you tell me a little bit about the Noyce scholarship that you received and what that allowed you to experience?

Beeler: Absolutely. So, the Noyce scholarship is, there's actually multiple tracks. The one I was in was the teacher track, which is a financial scholarship, and for every year of the scholarship, you get you promise to teach for two years in a high need school district. And I remember the director of the teacher prep program telling us about it and I went, oh, well I wanna teach in Worcester anyways, so this is perfect. And it has really made teaching so much more accessible. It's at the point where I have completely paid off all of my private loans and I am set to pay off my federal loans by the end of the summer. And it's not just the scholarship as well. I actually also had the opportunity to attend the conference in Washington DC and to meet with other teachers who were in situations similar to mine, which was a really great opportunity.

Cain: Yeah, that conference that's other Noyce scholars from around the, around the country, right?

Beeler:  Absolutely. Yeah.

Cain: Well, so you graduated from WPI, you got the teaching job that lets you sort of blend your experience and your passion and all that. But you keep coming back to campus. Just this summer you participated in a program at WPI called Research Experience for Teachers. Uh, it's funded by the National Science Foundation. It's a six-week program that gives K-12 teachers the chance to have a research experience in engineering. As part of it, WPI’s STEM Education Center leads professional development sessions every week for the participants. But this isn't the first time you've been back to campus as an alum, right? 

Beeler: No, it is not. Um, truthfully, I keep coming back for the campus center food. No, that's not true. Um, so I worked the summer after I graduated for Let's Talk Math, which is a camp for typically students in the Worcester area , students at the secondary level to get some hands-on experience with higher level math that they wouldn't typically see in high school. So, the first summer after I graduated, I was the curriculum coordinator and I worked to get problem sets and to really make sure that the students who were working on these problem sets were both able to access the material, but that it was also a acceptable level of challenge and accurate to what they would see in that discipline. So, they worked with epidemiology, with networks, they worked with knot theory, with cryptography. And then I passed that job on to another student who was graduating, but I've come back for a few summers to give the presentation on RSA cryptography, which is a lot of fun. Another one of those subjects, which is not technically math, but is really just math in disguise.

Cain: Yeah. Let's Talk Math it's a free day camp for high school students. It's hosted at WPI and other college campuses, to let students explore the history of mathematicians from different backgrounds and to work on challenging math problems and to get experience communicating about their work. and that led you up to this, this summer. What drew you in about the Research Experience for Teachers Program? 

Beeler: Yeah, so kind of similar to cryptography being math and disguise, I am always looking for ways to answer the question: when am I gonna use this in the real world? And I thought there's no better way to answer this than going and getting some actual research experience. So that's what really drew me into the Research Experience for Teachers. I wanted to say, okay, I'm gonna go out and do some real-world math and bring it back to the kids. And not in a I told you so way. Maybe in a little, I told you so way, but more in a hey, like this is what you can really do with what I'm teaching you.

Cain: One of the goals of the Research Experience for Teachers program is to help teachers develop activities they can bring back to their classrooms and to help students be aware of and engage with stem. What was the research project that you worked on in the Research Experience for Teachers program this summer? 

Beeler: So, I worked in the Shell Lab studying antibiotic resistance in mycobacteria, which is a long-winded way of saying why is tuberculosis, which is still a really major health threat, especially in developing countries still so hard to cure.

Cain: And that's Professor Scarlet Shell. 

Beeler: Yes. Professor Shell. So, myself and another teacher who actually teaches biology for freshmen, which is nice to have the counterpart as I'm teaching math for freshmen this year, studied the effects of a protein on antibiotic resistance in mycobacteria. So, the same family that has tuberculosis. We didn't actually work on tuberculosis 'cause it's a little too dangerous for us. It was a super awesome experience 'cause we were pretty independent. We would go into the lab, we would culture the bacteria that had the protein, that didn't have the protein. And then we would say, okay, if we add this antibiotic, where do we see the growth? If we don't add the antibiotic, okay, it's still growing. That's good. And then we would compare that to see how the bacteria with the protein and the antibiotic grew compared to the bacteria without the protein and the antibiotic. And as I was working in the lab, I found that there was a lot of math. There was this formula, the concentration volume formula that popped up over and over again that I would use to determine, oh, how much bacteria do I need to pull from this? How much antibiotic do I need to pull? And when things went wrong, I had to go back and look at my calculations and say, okay, did I do it right? I'm so glad I wrote down all my steps so I could double check what I did. Um, if the antibiotic was too diluted, I would have to say, okay, how can I change that? How much do I need to add? So, I saw that. I was like, oh, this Is that real world math, right? This is an Algebra one standard that I'm using to really take a stab at this massive real-world problem. So, I'm hoping to bring that back to my students. And so, when they say, when am I gonna use this in the real world? I go; you can use it right now to help me figure out how much of this antibiotic we should pull out of this. 

Cain: Yeah, you'll be able to tell 'em firsthand about, about the experience that you had and, hopefully open some eyes there. Do you think you'll give specific problems that ask them to do that type of calculation about, you know, um, getting the right volume or, um, dilution on a, on a medicine for example? 

Beeler: Oh yeah, absolutely. I intend to have them do an activity where they're given an antibiotic and they're asked to determine, okay, how much do you need to add to some sterile water in order to accurately create the right dilution, because if it's too much, it's going to hurt people, and if it's too little, it's not going to do anything. And part of what I want for them to experience is not just, oh, doing the work, but also writing it down with steps so that people in the future can follow those instructions because as I was working in a lab, something that I think is more general is how important it was for me to look back at what I had been doing two weeks prior and I didn't always remember exactly what I had been doing, but as long as I had written down clear instructions, I felt a little bit better at recreating my steps. 

Cain: It's cool. There's a lot of lessons coming out of this experience that go even beyond math and just how you approach problems and how you approach work. In your view, having something like this, like being able to calculate the right dosage of a medicine, how important is having an application like that, a real-world example, when you're teaching math? Is it a matter of just getting the students interested and excited? What's the special sauce there? 

Beeler: It is so important to have an application, and I think it goes beyond getting them engaged. It's definitely a lot easier to get students engaged when they see a real-world application. But I think the hidden purpose of all your math classes is not to get you good at doing your times tables or, you know, moving around numbers. It's really to build up your capacity for abstract thinking. And so, as a math teacher, I'll give my students real world applications, and the goal is that they'll be able to go from the real world to a more abstract way of thinking and build up a model in their head for how these things work. You know, as kindergartners you start with like, oh, what does one mean? What does two mean? And so, you build up this model in your head of what are numbers, right? What do these weird symbols represent? And we sort of ask students as they progress along in education to build up these more complex, abstract models along the way, it can be tempting to jump straight into the abstract. You know, just slap an equation on the board and say, okay, solve this kid, with no reminder of what this actually means or what it can be used for. So, I'd say that having a real-world application is not just a matter of engagement, it's a matter of remembering why we're teaching students, what we teach.

Cain: Very, very well said, 

Beeler: Thank you. I've had a lot of practice answering students, well, why do I have to do this? Um, and part of it is like, well, yes, you'll use it in the real world. And sometimes there are things that I'm like, yeah, you probably won't use this in the real world. But I have a lot of athletes, and I have a lot of student musicians, and so I'll tell them, okay, well why does your coach make you do sprints? Right? You play basketball, they're not asking you to sprint in every single game, or you're a musician. Why do you have to do scales? I'm not going to your concert and hearing scales, it's about practice. It's about building up your capability to play the game, to actually play the symphony. And so, I'll try to tell my kids sometimes that if I ask them to solve an equation five times, it's because I want them to build up those skills and thinking. Right? So that they'll be able to go out and use these abstract thinking skills a little bit more, maybe when they're driving a car or doing their budgeting or really anything that requires that critical thinking. But normally they stop listening about 30 seconds into that application. So. 

Cain: Well at least they know you're coming at it from a position where you've really thought about this.

Beeler: Yeah.

Cain: I have to ask you, with your experience in, you know, math and, um, computer science, what was that experience like walking into sort of a scientific lab where you like nervous about that or excited for the opportunity to do something that's a little bit different from your day to day?

Beeler: I feel like at this point in my life I've learned to tell myself that nervousness is just me being excited. That's how I get through the first day of school every year. So, I was definitely nervous, but really excited. I remember Professor Shell asked me, “Well, have you ever been in a lab when you did your undergraduate here? And I was like, I did computer science labs, which you can go to in your pajama pants if you really wanted to. So, I was definitely nervous, but it was a lot of fun just doing the pipetting and all the measurements. And getting to wear the white coat was really satisfying. 

Cain: Must have been lab coat, right? 

Beeler: Yes, it was the first time I put on the lab coat. I was like, take my picture. I need to show this to the kids. It was just a really fantastic experience because I think because I was a math teacher, not necessarily in a math field, it was really eye-opening to see all the different math that was being used in biology and all the opportunities there are to sort of advance that. I remember one of the tasks we had to do was counting colonies. And I looked at that and I was like, I wonder if somebody's like written a program to accelerate this. And they have, and I'm like, oh, this could be something like I talk about in class. And so, I was driving home one day, and I was like, I really hope like there are lots of opportunities for just cross content collaboration in general. Because I think and I see this a lot as a math teacher, I'll be in my little math teacher box and I'll be like, this is what the students need to know for math. And it's not until I go talk to an English teacher or a theater teacher or an art teacher that I'll be like, oh, there's other things that they're learning that I can bring into my classroom to help this make a more holistic school day for them. So, just seek out opportunities to get outside of your box and learn more about the world around you and what your neighbors are doing. 

Cain: Well, it's cool that the research experience for teachers program helped sort of shed light on some of these things that, you know, you probably already knew, but you got the chance to really practice it.

Beeler: Yeah. 

Cain: You've had so many experiences with WPI for years that we've outlined some of them here. Are there sort of important lessons, memories or common themes from all those things, um, that you carry with you into your work as a teacher in the classroom? 

Beeler: Absolutely. Um, teamwork, I think would be number one. I feel like at WPI, learning to work on a team is so, so, so important and I feel like WPI students come out really capable of working in teams and working with others. And that's something especially, and I'm gonna say, after COVID, which teachers hate to hear, but after COVID, a lot of our students struggled with working in teams, and so I try to emphasize that in my classroom. I try to set up my classroom so that students work in groups of four and the desks are all pushed together so they don't always get a choice in the matter. But it's really cool to watch them at the beginning of the year kind of awkwardly look at each other and then do their work on their own to the end of the year, my classroom is loud because students are talking to one another and it gets to the point where they're like, oh, I remember working with this person. So, they're running across the room to talk to their friend, and I'm happy to see that. I'm happy to see them talking to one another. It reminds me of when I worked on my IQP and I was able to after my student teaching talk to the other people in my cohort and be like, I have this problem where none of my students will turn their cameras on. And everyone else was like, yeah, we're having that problem too. Or during my MQP where I worked in a team of four and we really had to get down to the nitty gritty of what we were doing and break it up in order to successfully complete our project. So, I think teamwork would be one of the things I absolutely carry with me out of WPI, um, and a good amount of school spirit. You know, I’ve got WPI merch hanging up in my classroom. College day comes around and I'm wearing my WPI shirt, so. 

Cain: Do any of your students ask you about either those approaches? Either the, why do we have to sit with groups of four or what's up with all the WPI gear? 

Beeler: Um, so definitely they're like, can I work by myself?

And I'm like, hmm, no, because I give them opportunities to work by themselves you know, when I'm testing their mastery of a subject, I wanna see what they can do on their own. But definitely when they're like, well, why do we have to work in the groups? I'll give them an explanation that, yeah, in the real world, believe it or not, you'll be working with other people. And I'll talk about the experiences I had typically with my MQP. I'll pull it up and put it on the board and scare them with all, like the math that has no numbers. And I'm like, yeah, but I couldn't have done it without the people on my team.

Cain: Uh, you mentioned the MQP. Is a senior level project here at WPI required for graduation. I'm curious, what type of questions do you get from students who are interested in maybe going into STEM or maybe going, into being a teacher, and, uh, what do you tell them?

Beeler:  Ooh, so again, I work at Burncoat High School, which is Worcester's arts magnet. So, the students we get tend to be more arts based, more into theater and music. So, I feel like sometimes I don't necessarily get the students who want to go into STEM, but when I do, I tell them be open to learning, right? Learn as much as you can. I remember I had a student who was like, I wanna get my PhD in applied math. And first of all, I was like, so proud. I almost cried. Um, but I was like, just make sure you love it. Make sure you find something that you love. And then we actually do have a few more students who want to be teachers. Um, I've known quite a few students who want to be music educators and I feel like they know pretty well why they wanna be a teacher, but I just remind them like, it's gonna be hard, but it's so, so rewarding. I feel like when they ask me, “Well, why did you become a teacher? Um, when I'm not, you know, being sarcastic and being like, so I can answer questions like that all day. Um, um, because it's so rewarding, right? It is so hard. I remember, the director of the teacher prep program told me that teachers get summers off, because they work 12 months of the year. It's just crammed into nine months.  So, it's hard work, but it's so rewarding when you're able to either have something click for a student or when a student comes to you and is like, hey, like I really understood that. Being able to guide those students I think is just really, really rewarding. I'm happy to be a side character in their coming-of-age stories. 

Cain:  Have you had the experience yet where you've got like a mirror and you see someone: one of your students playing the role that you played in college where you were helping your classmate out learn something that they needed some help with. Have you witnessed that yet in your own classroom and what goes through your head when you're seeing that? 

Beeler: I have, yeah. So first of all, whenever I see that I don't interrupt because students learn the best from their peers, right? I can yap all day if I want to, but they're really gonna learn best from their fellow students. Unless they're teaching something wrong, which is not typically the case, I have to sit back and let them do it. And it's scary to take your hand off the wheel and it's so much fun. I had a student this past year who was sort of in that situation and then he came to me and was like, hey, I wanna apply to Mass Academy. Could you write my application? And it was such like a jarring moment for me. And I'm like, oh my gosh, yes, I will. 'Cause I'm like, yeah, I see that in you. So that was really cool to be able to write his letter of recommendation for Mass Academy, and he's a student there now. Full circle. Especially because, and this is, I just realized this, my Algebra two teacher, my sophomore year who wrote my letter of recommendation for Mass Academy was also a WPI graduate and a teacher prep graduate and worked at Mass Academy for a year doing some administrative stuff. So, this kid's like, what? Third generation, somehow, Mass Academy. 

Cain:  I love it. 

Beeler: So yeah, WPI it, you'll, you'll form connections and that's really great. 

Cain: Awesome. Is there anything else that you wanted to share? 

Beeler: Never stop being curious. Always be up to learning something new. I try to tell my kids like, learning is exciting. Like it's exciting that you get to come and learn something new every day. At one point in our life, we were all kindergartners who were so excited to learn. So, try to keep that with you for as long as you can. 

Cain: Inner spark. 

Beeler: Exactly, yes.

Cain: Well, Em, thanks so much for taking the time to share your story with The WPI Podcast. Um, I suppose it's yet another touch point for you in your WPI story and I was happy to be here for it. 

Beeler: Of course. Thank you for having me. 

Cain: Em Beeler is a WPI graduate from the class of 2022. She teaches math at Burncoat High School in Worcester. You can learn more about WPIs Teacher Preparation Program, the Research Experience for Teachers program at WPI, or any of the other university programs you heard about today by visiting our website wpi.edu. This has been The WPI podcast. Don't forget to check out wpi.edu/listen. That's where you can hear more episodes of this podcast and explore other podcasts from across campus. Plus, you'll find audio versions of WPI news stories about our students, faculty and staff. If you like what you hear, please follow this podcast and WPI News on your favorite audio platform. You can also ask Alexa to open WPI and tell a friend about us too while you're at it. Can you tell we really love having you listen? Before I get the hook, I need to tell you this podcast was produced at the WPI Global Lab in the Innovation Studio. I had audio engineering help today from PhD candidate Varun Bhat. Tune in next time for another episode of The WPI Podcast. I'm Jon Cain. Thanks for listening.