Dr. Yajaira Fuentes-Tauber (most know her as Dr. T.!) has been a science teacher at Rocky Mountain High School for three years and has made it her goal to give students opportunities to grow and challenge themselves and support them along the way.
Dr. T. moved from Mexico to the United States when she was young and started school in the United States in 7th grade. She always found that math was something she excelled in despite the language barrier because things like numbers and formulas are the same around the world.
Science was something that Dr. T. discovered she loved when she got to college. She appreciated the changing nature of it; how new things are being learned and discovered constantly, and enjoyed working through and solving problems. Before then it had never been something she was pushed to do.
“I think that because of my identity, I wasn’t really the student [that] teachers pushed to do science things.”
Whereas many teachers choose their careers because of the great teachers they had, Dr.T. wanted to be the kind of teacher she didn’t have as a student.
“…I think for me it was the opposite. For me, it was the lack of having a teacher who believed in me. I seek to be a teacher that believes in their students when they might not feel like they have anyone that does.”
Though Dr. T. has only worked at Rocky for three years, she aims to work there for several years. She appreciates the sense of belonging that has developed at the school and feels it is a special part of the culture of the school.
“It’s my home away from home,” said Dr. T.
Dr. T. teaches biology and zoology at Rocky Mountain High School and loves getting to see students that she got to know as freshmen in biology, come back as juniors or seniors in zoology. Being able to see how students grow is one of her favorite things about the job.
“It’s not just about a letter grade. I love seeing them grow not just academically, but at a personal level.”
One of her favorite projects is the Caring For Our Watersheds (CFOW) project or other competition-based projects that she has her students do during the year. She loves this project because it has empowered students and allowed them to see how they can make a difference. She enjoys seeing how it can lead students to options in their lives they hadn’t previously thought were possible.
“I try to give opportunities I didn’t have as a student to my students.”
Dr. T. wants to make sure that she can help her students do things they never thought they could do, and feels that to encourage that to others she must be able to do it herself.
“I’d say the coolest thing I’ve done is with National Geographic; I wouldn’t have thought I could do that in my wildest dreams.”
Dr. T. works on a contract basis as a teaching assistant with National Geographic for their “Teaching Climate Change In Your Classroom” course. She also helps support informative sessions for the Sling Shot Challenge.
There are many things that Dr. T. loves about her job, and she values the opportunity it has given her to support her students in the ways she would have wanted as a student. As she continues teaching, Dr. T. has made it her goal to push her students and give them new opportunities for years to come.
