 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Class act
By LOGAN D. MABE, Times Staff Writer NEW TAMPA -- Carmen Austin is more than just a high school biology teacher, she shapes young lives. Something comes through her lessons that transcends cell division. Austin often finds out, sometimes decades later, that she was a catalyst for a student's success. Recently, Austin, one of 10 finalists for Hillsborough County's Teacher of the Year, got a call from a woman named Amy Bennett, one of her students from 15 years ago. Bennett liked Austin's science classes enough to go on to become an environmental biologist. But the real honor, Austin said, was when Bennett asked her to "be her mom," in Bennett's upcoming wedding. Then there's Earl Scime Austin had him as a student in the early 1980s at Webb Junior High. Scime was a troubled boy who was thinking about dropping out of school until Austin made him a lab assistant and offered encouragement. She convinced him that he could accomplish anything that he set his mind to. Scime rewarded Austin's confidence by getting a doctoral degree in fusion physics. And Austin was the first person he thanked in the acknowledgement section of his thesis. "It made me realize, what if I hadn't made time for that kid," Austin said. "The fact that at that very critical time in his life there was someone to talk to made a difference. We have to teach them the facts, but we also have to treat them as people." Austin, now in her 33rd year as a teacher and still as enthusiastic as an intern, said this sort of cause and effect is her profession's highest reward. "This is what really keeps me going," she said. "Because I know that I'm making a difference." That difference continues today. "She's the first teacher I've had who really gets involved with us out of school," said senior Ashley Fielder, a student in Austin's advanced placement biology class. "She creates a great atmosphere for learning," said senior Victoria Roman. "She puts a lot of her personality into it." "She really cares about what she's doing and the students recognize that," said senior Brittny Olinger. "She does everything she can to help us learn it and understand it." Austin was inspired to become a teacher back in her junior high school days by "two really outstanding science teachers." Even as a kindergartener, she showed an aptitude for chalk and blackboard. "My mother tells me I'd gather the neighborhood kids in the garage, sit them down and teach them nursery rhymes," Austin said. "It just came very naturally for me." Away from the classroom, Austin and her husband, Ron, go adventuring. They hike in the wilderness, keeping an eye open for the fossils and mammoth wasps nests that now adorn her classroom. During the summer, they travel to far flung nature spots like Knight's Inlet in British Columbia. With two grown sons no longer at home, the Austin's do not suffer empty nest syndrome thanks to a collection of two tarantulas, two snakes, two hamsters, two dogs and two cats. "I think I'm like Noah," Austin said. Austin has been nominated for Teacher of the Year five times without winning the countywide title. She said she'll welcome the honor if it comes at the Feb. 7 banquet, but knows that the cards and letters she saves from her former students are "really my trophies." - Logan D. Mabe can be reached at 226-3464 or at mabe@sptimes.com.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times |
