Kristen Butera may be a new name to McIntosh, but many students might recognize it from J.C. Booth Middle School. McIntosh introduced many new teachers throughout subjects this year and Butera is one of them. Moving is a big change, but for some it’s easier than it sounds.
“In seventh grade, which is where I spent all 20 years [teaching] we taught what I [called] baby biology. [I told the kids] when you get to high school, you’re gonna have real biology. So it’s nice being able to see now, what you learned in seventh grade really does build in high school, so I’m able to make those connections for them,” Butera said.
Currently Butera is teaching ninth grade biology and gifted biology as her first subjects at this level. Science has not always been one of her top talents.
“You know, it’s really funny. I hated science in high school, it was awful. But in college, I had a fantastic biology professor. My first interaction at college we did what was called freshman experience, and they took us to a deserted island on the coast of Georgia. We spent a week immersed in ecology, and she just captivated me. So I fell back in love with science,” Butera said.
Moving to the high school level also calls for new culture, from Friday Night Lights to graduation. For Butera, she gets to see many of her former middle school students participate in key moments in life.
“I love Friday Night Lights. I love a good football game. But I’m really excited about prom with Seniors. I’ve taught a lot of them, and they’re some really awesome kids. So that’s probably what I’m most excited about, watching them. Watching them go through graduation and all the things that high school brings because it’s exciting,” Butera said.
Not only did Butera teach at the middle school level, she was also a coach to Booth’s National Science Bowl team. In 2022, Butera alongside former J.C. Booth science teacher Kathleen Lanman helped coach and lead them to the title of regional champions.
“That was crazy. When she [Kathleen Lanman] came back from Washington, DC, she was like, we’ve got to do this [National Science Bowl]. It’s a science trivia basically, but it’s all science related. And so they’re having to learn, to become experts in content that a lot of them have no exposure to. [At the time] we had two teams, and they won first and third. So we were very pleased,” Butera said.
With Butera’s long history of teaching science, she has been able to teach a handful of talented students.
“They’re a bunch of good kids, [I’ve learned] that kids can do anything they want to do. I am amazed at what our kids can learn and how our STEM kids pick up [material]. They [STEM kids] come over not having a whole lot of research background, and the science fair projects and the research projects and the engineering projects that they’re producing by the time they leave here, are high quality, real science, and that’s not the case everywhere,” Butera said.
While knowing that not all students will end up doing the same thing, Butera still is dedicated to helping students be successful in the future.
“Not everybody’s going to go be a scientist, not everybody’s going to be a science teacher, but maybe it’ll turn them on to nursing, or maybe it’ll turn them on to something else. My goal is to have a kid who hated science walk out of my room and go, ‘it’s not so bad, I like it’. That’s my end goal,” Butera.
