If you ask any high school student what their most challenging subject is, the answer is bound to be in within the field of sciences. The science courses Millbrook offers requires students to think critically and comprehend complex concepts–and AP Environmental Science is no exception.
Ms. Wendy Edwards’s Millbrook journey began 14 years ago, in 2002, when she graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. When Ms. Edwards decided to take a year off before venturing onto graduate school, life had a different plan for her. To her surprise, she was offered a job teaching Earth Science at Millbrook. Although she had no prior experience in teaching, she did have an evident passion for the sciences. After realizing that teaching was her calling, Ms. Edwards attended East Carolina University, where she obtained a Master’s Degree in Science Education and earned her teaching certification. “Here I am, fourteen years later, still loving my job!” Ms. Edwards expressed. Ms. Edwards continues to teach Earth Science today, while also taking on AP Environmental Science and IB Environmental Science. “Ms. Edwards is always excited about what we are learning, so it makes us excited, to,.” said sophomore Yousra Razik. In her earlier years at Millbrook, Ms. Edwards coached JV Softball and Women’s Golf, but after the birth of her children, she has kept busy running the scoreboard at football and basketball games.
Within the past few years, various science courses at Millbrook have switched to using “flipped classroom” teaching methods. This style of teaching reverses the homework and lecture elements of the course by combining them into one. “Students watch short videos at home of me teaching a concept which allows for more time in class to spend on labs, projects, case studies, and discussions,” Ms. Edwards explained. Junior Nicholas Keyes is a big fan of the flipped classroom, stating, “You can go back or speed up depending on your needs. It allows students to work at a pace that best suits their individual needs.”
This classroom style has allowed students in her AP Environmental Science class to work on various projects recently, including creating a scrapbook, building solar ovens, and geocaching. For the scrapbook project, students collected current event articles that correlated to different units they learned throughout the school year to help apply their knowledge to real world situations. “It is my hope that my students will adopt an informed personal response to the wide range of pressing environmental issues that they will inevitably come to face. I want them to consider the costs and benefits of human activities, both to the environment and to societies,” Ms. Edwards expressed. In addition to scrapbooks, AP Environmental Science students designed, built, and cooked food in homemade solar-powered ovens.
Outside of her busy career as a educator, Ms. Edwards is a mother and wife. She met her future husband, Mr. Matt Edwards who teaches math here at MHS, in 2002 on the day of their first paycheck. Today, they have two beautiful girls, Avery (7) and Tyler (5). Like most, Ms. Edwards enjoys traveling, cooking, and binge-watching shows on Netflix. “I love to travel. I have spent the night in all 50 states and visited 14 different countries,” Ms. Edwards revealed. Out of everything Ms. Edwards does, though, her favorite pastime is spending quality time with her family.