September 1, 2005

Michelle Edwards is the new chemistry teacher at Yellow Springs High School.

By Diane Chiddister

New staff members are working in all three Yellow Springs school buildings this year. This article features two staffers at YSHS and the McKinney School; teachers at Mills Lawn will be profiled next week.

YSHS chemistry teacher Michelle Edwards
Michelle Edwards, the new chemistry teacher at Yellow Springs High School, has big plans for her first year at the school. She plans to revive a chemistry department that faltered last year with a teacher who had not taught the subject before. She plans not only to teach chemistry well but in a way that is fun and exciting. And she plans to get along well with her students.

“I’m willing to bet,” she said, “that most kids will walk out of here saying this is one of their favorite classes.”

In her 15th year as a teacher, Edwards has the experience to back up her bet. Beyond that, she knows that she loves teaching and will do everything she can to make her subject come alive for her students.

“These days you have to pretty much sing and dance to keep their attention,” she said. “That works for me. I can do that.”

Edwards said she doesn’t like to lecture. Rather, her approach is to provide as many hands-on opportunities as possible and to use the inquiry method of teaching, urging students to find their own answers rather than providing them. Most of all, she hopes to help relate a subject sometimes considered irrelevant to her students’ daily lives.

“If I can inspire them in any way, I’d like them to see science not just as a class they have to take but something they use in the real world every day,” she said.

Edwards believes that she can inspire her students because she was inspired herself at age 16 by her high school chemistry teacher, and knew then she wanted to become a teacher. And she believes that she will get along well with her students because she feels that she understands them.

“I’m 36 on the outside and 18 on the inside,” she said. “Kids relate to me well because they think I’m young at heart, which maybe is why I never left high school.”

Edwards, who grew up in Jamestown, received her teacher’s degree from Wright State and master’s from Miami University. She married her high school sweetheart, Scott Edwards, with whom she has two children, who are 8 and 11, and she lives with her family on the edge of Xenia.

Edwards most recently taught chemistry and physics for six years at Northwestern High School. She also taught at Wilmington, Greeneview and Vandalia Butler. She also taught for two years in the education program at Antioch University McGregor and teaches workshops for Miami’s Center for Chemical Education.

She was comfortable at Northwestern, Edwards said, but she chose to take the job at YSHS because she values the school system’s diversity and “accepting” atmos-phere. Beyond that, she said, she appreciates what she perceives as the community’s emphasis on education.

“I was looking for a place where education is highly valued and Yellow Springs has a good reputation in education among smaller schools,” she said. “Here they strive to make kids the best they can be. I like that.”

Robin Fast is a guidance counselor at the McKinney School and YSHS.

Guidance counselor Robin Fast
Asked to describe herself, Robin Fast, a guidance counselor at the McKinney School and YSHS, says that she’s “a glass-half-full person. I’m usually happy.”

Indeed, when Fast talks she also laughs a lot, and she clearly enjoys the company of the young people she works with. During a recent visit, a steady stream of students popped into her office to partake of mints from the “community candy bowl” that Fast keeps filled as an invitation to stop in and say hello.

Fast began working at YSHS and McKinney in October 2004, and, therefore, has almost a year under her belt. It’s been a good year, she said, and she especially appreciates the open, laid-back atmosphere at YSHS and McKinney, which differs markedly from her previous workplace, Springfield North High School, where for more than four years she operated a program to keep potential dropouts in school. She spent so much time counseling students, she said, that she decided to go back to school in that field, and she received a master’s in guidance counseling from Wright State.

In Yellow Springs, Fast shares counseling duties with counselor and French teacher Dave Smith. Fast is responsible for students in grades 7 through 10, and her duties include overseeing the seventh and eighth grade Ohio Achievement Tests and the new Ohio Graduation Test, which 10th graders take. She also serves as the school’s representative to the Greene County Career Center and the Academy of Greene County, the county’s alternative school.

Students are also encouraged to speak with Fast if they’re having academic or personal problems, and they “sometimes come in when they’re stressed out,” she said. Teachers will also ask her to keep an eye on a student if the teacher is aware that the family is dealing with family problems or illness, or if a student’s behavior indicates possible personal difficulties.

Fast said she prefers being with young people far more than doing paperwork. She especially enjoys her daily duty monitoring the McKinney School lunchroom, because, she said, it “gives me time to interact with kids and joke around.”

Asked about the hardest part of her work, Fast was momentarily stumped, until she said, “I don’t know. Being quiet at meetings?” It’s not that she dislikes meetings, she said, although they’re not her favorite activity.

Fast, who is single, lives in Huber Heights, where she grew up and has lived her whole life. Outside work, she enjoys being with her family, especially her three small nephews, whose photos adorn her office walls. Not surprisingly, Fast said, she is considered the “fun aunt” who isn’t allowed to visit the boys right before their nap time, because they have too much fun.