Yesterday, I met with Marie, a former student from Walker School in Evanston. It's been 20 years since we've seen each other! Elizabeth had to interview someone working in her field of interest (environmental science/chemistry), so I contacted Marie. She was in my first group of students when I piloted the science lab program at Walker and was one of the science helpers that took care of the animals. It was great seeing her, and we had fun chatting. I brought along a few photos from her 5th grade year, and we tried to name some of her classmates. One of the pictures shows Marie studying pond life at camp, a good precursor to her present position as an environmental scientist studying wetlands.
Apparently, Elizabeth's interview went really well. She said that she was more excited than ever about the field and that she would love to have a job like Marie's. Looks like we may have a future scientist in the Ching family.
And nothing's so gratifying to a teacher as seeing how well former students are doing.
