Ms. Barb Roth and Dr. Scott Evans sit down for a conversation about their favorite subject.
Watauga High School has an experienced science department. Although the department is impressive as a whole, it would not be nearly as successful without veteran teachers like Ms. Barb Roth and Dr. Scott Evans. Ms. Roth and Dr. Evans share their thoughts about why they teach science, why they teach science at Watauga, and more.
What inspired you to teach science?
Dr. Evans: “It was my best subject as a student and my favorite subject as a student, I just love explaining stuff. It's just because I love the subject.”
Ms. Roth: “I think that's the same for me, I mean I remember I asked for a chemistry set in elementary school, and got it for Christmas one time. It was one of those old tin boxes, little vials and my parents trusted me enough to go into the basement and they didn't care what I was doing down there. I was making fire and invisible ink. So I loved science even back then and had an aunt that was a chemist.”
Why did you choose to teach at Watauga?
Dr. Evans: “I ended up here as an accident. I taught college for the first 17 years, andI was working on my doctorate. I wasn't teaching at the time and one of my friends here said we have a teacher that is going out for 6 weeks on National Guard duty. Can you come do 6 weeks? I was like, yeah, I think I can handle that, I hate high school, but I’ll go do that. Then at the end of the 6 weeks another teacher quit and they asked if I could stay for the rest of the year. Then by the time the year was over, I fell in love with the school, and the job. Got my teaching license and decided to stay, but I never expected to end up in high school.”
Ms. Roth: “We moved here about 7 years ago from Nebraska, so I didn’t know of Watauga. I couldn't even pronounce Watauga. We didn't know where we're going to move exactly, but my husband got a job in West Jefferson. So I just made contact here, out of the two schools, Ashe or here. So it worked out and now I love it here.”
What are your interests outside of school?
Dr. Evans: “I love tabletop games, I’m a club sponsor for Cards and Dragons Club.”
Ms. Roth: “Well I know we both like fishing. Outdoor, hiking, fishing camping, I play guitar, my kids and my grandbaby that I love even though they are far away. Home improvement projects, one after another, and I love birds. I paint, I love painting things, I paint birdhouses, a lot of them. So plenty, whereas it's hard to find time.
What is the most interesting recent science development to you?
Dr. Evans: “I would have to say the web, one it's great, you can get your hands on any piece of information, and it's terrible because you can get your hands on any piece of information. When Barb and I were in school there were probably crazy people who thought the world was flat, but they couldn’t get that idea to everyone, but now that has become pervasive enough, there's a small percentage of people who believe the world is flat. That and vaccines and medical care, it is all a double-edged sword. The web provides information, but it also provides enough bad information for people to argue the world is flat.”
Ms. Roth: “And yeah, just being able to have anything at your fingertips all the time, that information is there if you just research it. And then I was thinking of the new telescope as well. Now we can see back into the Big Bang. That's something, that's great. The Hubble was the best until now, the way we see light, because it's coming from a distant past we can see way into the distant past. We can see them because it took the light 14 billion years to get to us.”
Dr. Evans: “Another big one is DNA technology. People are gonna be able to cure cancer, people are going to be able to cure genetic diseases. But that comes also with that double- edged sword because people are going to be able to choose to have a baby that won't have cystic fibrosis which will be great. But they might choose a baby that has to have blue eyes or has to be 6’5, or has to be athletic, and that's scary to me. I love the idea that we can fix problems, but we can create them as well. With that kind of stuff my big fear is only the rich will be able to get the genes to let them live 150 years. Or have the genes to fix the genetic problems in their family. And people that aren’t that well off just won't have that opportunity unfortunately.”
Between the chemistry and biology branches, there are similarities. Dr. Evans and Ms. Roth are dedicated teachers and dearly loved by students. The field of science is always expanding, and people like Dr. Evans and Ms. Roth are exactly what the community and the high school need to help us understand it all.
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