Noyce Scholar Profile

Kyle Wright
Undergraduate major or graduate field of study: Education
Subject area(s) and grade level teaching focus: Highschool Chemistry
Category of scholarship/fellowship:
Noyce Scholar
Name of Noyce institution:
State University College of New York at Oneonta
Current academic or teaching status:
3rd year (junior)
School and school district:
2 weeks helping high needs schools in NYC. volunteer work at Job corp at oneonta.
Background:
I am from a small town called Gilbertsville, about 30 minutes away from the city of Oneonta. I graduated 5th in my class of 41 students. I love nature and learning new things, and love using and trying out new technology. Chemistry is fun and very challenging and i hope to one day help students better understand this fun, challenging and life changing science.
Why do you want to teach:
people all around me struggle to understand many of the concepts in chemistry that i understood rather easily. chemistry is a subject that has changed the world many times and will continue to do so. teaching students about chemistry and giving them the solid background they need in the techniques and building blocks in it will help them to flourish in higher education should they choose to pursue it. having a good general education in chemistry also serves a person well to understand the more general world in the increasingly complex things we put into household items.
Describe a memorable teaching experience:
The most memorable moment for me was in chemistry class with my favorite teacher in highschool. my and one of my friends and classmates were sitting at our desks talking and goofing off quietly after we finished an assignment that was taking everyone else in the class much longer to complete. one of my other classmates commented to the teacher about why me and my friend were allowed to talk and relax during class. the teacher explained that we had already finished the assignment correctly some time ago. he explained how me and my friend had a knack for chemistry and it came much more naturally for us than for the others, hence we got more free time. after this, he asked me to help my other classmates to understand what we had done on the assignment. i was able to help a lot of my other classmates grasp some of the more complicated concepts. this made me realize that i had a future in helping others with the subject of chemistry that everyone seemed to struggle with.
What does the Noyce program mean to you:
the noyce program is a way to gain valuable connections with other people of science and education, field experience that i need to become successful in many different teaching situations, and resources to help me navigate my way through my years in college. overall, it is a guiding and helping force to help me on my path towards becoming an educator for the future of the world.