Being a teacher “gets better, gets easier, and you become better at it” says Ms. Howell, a HOSA advisor and biology teacher at Ballard. In this article, I interviewed Kirsten Howell to learn more about her school life and HOSA.
Ms. Howell always knew she wanted to work within the field of science, but didn’t think she was ever going to be a high school teacher. She originally was on the path to getting her PHD and was involved in research. Ms. Howell comes from a family of teachers and was always very inspired by them. She says, “I think they kind of unknowingly shaped me.” She didn’t have a strong opinion of high school students before teaching, but always knew she “wanted to teach more mature brains.” She started by teaching at Martha Layne Collins high school for nine years in Shelby County, and had a really positive experience. She now works here at Ballard and has been teaching here for three years.
Ms. Howell helped start the HOSA chapter at Ballard, she says, “It’s been nice to watch [HOSA] grow from the first year to where we are now. We’ve almost tripled in size.” For her, HOSA has been a lot of responsibility but “really rewarding.” Ms. Smith, a fellow HOSA advisor, says “It’s great. It’s been really awesome because we’ve both done HOSA separately by ourselves, and so working together with another person who kind of knows all the ins and outs of it has been really helpful.” Members of the club just did regionals in schools in Louisville and outside of the Louisville area.
In her free time, Ms. Howell likes to read, but has less free time with her two young children and juggling being a teacher. While it’s been tough, having kids has helped create a better work-life balance. She says, “Before having kids, my life was teaching, you know, even when I went home, I was working at night, I was working on the weekends, you know a lot of my mental energy was focused on my job and then once having kids, I had to re-frame my life and realized that school was not my first priority anymore.” Ms. Smith, who had a kid last year, says “I think I’ve had to balance work life prior to that, just because I’ve been a teacher for 15 years.”
Being a teacher and or being in the field of science can be tricky. Ms. Howell’s best advice is to stick and commit to what you’re doing. She acknowledged that being a teacher gets better as you go on. She says, “A lot of younger teachers experience having to create an atmosphere of respect.” For students going into the medical field and starting to teach, she says, “If you’re passionate about it, and you know you wanna work in the field don’t be discouraged.” Ms. Smith says, “I think your first year teaching is the hardest, just because you’re learning what you’re doing and exactly what it means.”
HOSA will soon be having state conferences in March! If you have any more information you can talk to HOSA advisors Ms. Smith and Ms. Howell.