Students like knowing who their teachers are, but sometimes it may take a while to get to know newer teachers. Here is a booster to get to know a new member of the science staff.

Maxine Morris is a new teacher for the IB chemistry class for the 2019-2020 school year, which she is really excited about. She used to be a renewable energy researcher and she is passionate about chemistry. 

“It’s literally my favorite thing in the whole world,” said Morris. 

Up until last year she was at Jefferson Academy, a charter school in Broomfield, where she taught chemistry classes for one and a half years. It has been a big change for her since she came to this school, as she now has a much greater number of students. 

“̈The other staff, especially the other science teachers, are really supportive, so I feel supported in my role here,” said Morris. 

She discovered that she wanted to teach while finishing up her master’s degree in chemical engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. 

While she was figuring out what to do after finishing her master’s, she talked to some fellow scientists with whom she was working with, as a lot of the jobs that were coming up did not seem to be the right fit for her. They advised her to look into teaching. 

She decided to join a teaching program at the School of Mines, after witnessing a ninth grade physics class at Adams Twelve, because she “was hooked.”

“I knew I wanted to teach chemistry and now I get to do that and I’m really happy about it,” said Morris. 

Her students have also been happy having Morris as their teacher. Edward Wawryznek, a Sophomore, liked that she is engaged in her teaching of chemistry.

“I like going to class, […] she’s very enthusiastic, and it’s fun to be in her class,” said Wawryznek. 

Another Sophomore in her class, Mark Reamon, said that she also makes a comfortable environment for the students. 

“She makes it seem really easy if you need to ask a question. She is very approachable,” said Reamon. 

Other than her extreme interest in chemistry, she is greatly enthusiastic in environmental sciences. Prior to teaching, she was a researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) during her master’s program, where she had worked on silicon solar cells. 

“I still really love renewable energy and that’s something that really inspires me,” said Morris. 

Besides environmentally related activities, she also likes social justice type clubs, and after acclimating herself to her classes over the course of this school year, there is potential for her involvement in clubs like these.

She is also interested in athletics. Her hobbies consist of modern and contemporary dancing, rock-climbing, hiking, camping and yoga, which she just recently got her teaching certification for. Contrary to hating the outdoors while growing up in Southern California, she loves the outdoors ever since moving to Colorado. 

“I’ve found [the outdoors] to really bring me happiness and it’s so beautiful out here,” said Morris. “How could you not want to be outside?”