What brought you to SARSEF?
I have been a rural Science and Math teacher for most of my 18 year teaching career, so I have crossed paths with SARSEF a bunch of times! My students have participated in the SARSEF Fair many times, and we started a solar go cart team one year. I was part of the the rural cohort program pilot in 22-23, and so when an opportunity to participate and be a part of the SARSEF team came up, I was excited to jump at it! I believe, as SARSEF does, that every student deserves an opportunity to experience learning STEM by doing STEM, and sometimes a little bit of help and support is necessary to make those opportunities accessible, so I know there is a comfortable alignment in the SARSEF mission and my own desire to support outreach.
Who is a scientist or engineer you admire and why?
This is a funny one, and I learned some of this from my students, but Ernest Rutherford. As a rural teacher, his life story was one my kids really connected with in Willcox. He was raised in New Zealand, to a family who raised sheep. I am sure in his perspective he was in the most “backwards” corner of the world, while new discoveries were happening all over the world, but especially in England. He actually won a scholarship opportunity to go study at the Cavendish Laboratory, mentored by JJ Thomson (discovered the electron) (was the first person to get to, who didn’t do undergrad there) from what was basically an early science fair in New Zealand. As his career progressed, he became a mentor and guide to other amazing scientists, and was open to women studying and pursuing advanced degrees (and mentored them) in Physics at a time that was not a common mindset. He had a witty sense of humor, and ultimately connected with and mentored Niels Bohr after his inability to work under Thomson. The tl;dr version of this story was that besides discovering the nucleus with a creative experiment, he was a successful mentor to other great minds, and welcoming to women in the laboratory as equals.
What is a piece of media that you have enjoyed recently?
I spend a lot of time traveling to support rural schools, and I have found the “History That Doesn’t Suck” podcast by (Professor) Dr. Greg Jackson and I really enjoy it. I have also started with audiobooks on these drives, and so I finally got to finish both “A People’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn and “Invisible Women” by Caroline Criado Perez, both of which I would recommend.
Why is STEM education important to you?
STEM Education is important to me for a variety of reasons. In the first place, it can lead to a wide variety of (well-paying) jobs, as well as lifting us up into a more modern future, discovering things like improved medical treatments, improved safety products, etc. The second reason it is important to me is as a means of ontology, science is one of the most powerful tools humans have ever created to try and solve and find what is real, a way to overcome superstition and fear and to better understand the world and universe we live in. It teaches our kids that they can become the engineers who design solutions to the problems we now face through learning, passing on knowledge, taking creative approaches and trial and error.
What did you think you wanted to be when you grew up?
I have always known and said I wanted to be a scientist. While at times I wish maybe I had stuck a little closer to that plan, being a STEM teacher has been an extremely rewarding career.
Learn more about Ty on Our Staff and Board page. You can contact Ty at ty@sarsef.org.