{"id":3469,"date":"2023-10-13T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2023-10-13T16:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/?p=3469"},"modified":"2023-10-13T12:01:01","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T16:01:01","slug":"researcher-turned-chemistry-teacher-danielle-duckworth-joins-the-nest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/researcher-turned-chemistry-teacher-danielle-duckworth-joins-the-nest\/","title":{"rendered":"Researcher Turned Chemistry Teacher Danielle Duckworth Joins the Nest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Benjamin Hong, Features Editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, River Hill welcomes Danielle Duckworth, the newest addition to the teaching staff. An alumna of Mississippi State, Cornell, and Johns Hopkins, Ms. Duckworth will be teaching Chemistry G\/T and Advanced Physical Science (APS) in room 250, and if the \u201cLive, Laugh, Love\u201d Skeletor poster in her room is any indication, her class will prove to be an interesting one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While most teachers study a subject as an undergraduate and then get a master\u2019s in education, Ms. Duckworth had a much more unconventional route to teaching. After earning her Bachelor of Science in chemistry, she went further into the world of academia, earning a \u201cmaster\u2019s in chemistry and doing a lot of research, and then I got a second master\u2019s degree in biophysics.\u201d But while her initial plan was to continue in this line of work, becoming a research professor and running a lab of her own, she soon discovered that her true love was in the \u201cteaching aspect of science.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even during her years in research, this penchant for teaching was already apparent. Ms. Duckworth already had had a lot of experience teaching undergraduate courses in chemistry and biophysics as a graduate student before realizing she wanted to be a high school teacher in 2019. Her decision to shift from university to high school instruction was driven by her fond memories of what high school had meant to her as a teenager: a safe space that \u201cgave me a lot of confidence, and I want to hopefully be a safe space for the next generation of students.\u201d She initially took her talents to Friends School of Baltimore, before moving on to Montgomery County and finally arriving at River Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The quality of a teacher can often be determined by the passion they have for their subject, and in that regard, Ms. Duckworth\u2019s students are sure not to be left wanting. Despite the years she has dedicated to the highest levels of research in her fields of interest, when asked what motivates her to teach science, Ms. Duckworth has a very simple answer. \u201cI love science, she stated. \u201cI particularly love the intersection of chemistry, physics and biology. I love the content of biology but I like how chemistry and physics can actually explain it through numerical answers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Duckworth\u2019s River Hill journey has only just begun, and as she adjusts to the new environment, only time will tell in what ways she will leave her mark on the school community. Yet Ms. Duckworth emphasizes that no matter what the future has in store for her, her one goal is to establish herself so that  \u201cif someone finds out they\u2019re going to have me for chemistry or APS they\u2019re excited. I want students to know that, above all, my class is a fun place to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Benjamin Hong, Features Editor This year, River Hill welcomes Danielle Duckworth, the newest addition to the teaching staff. An alumna of Mississippi State, Cornell, and Johns Hopkins, Ms. Duckworth will be teaching Chemistry G\/T and Advanced Physical Science (APS) in room 250, and if the \u201cLive, Laugh, Love\u201d Skeletor poster in her room is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":3472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[749,748,286,269,211,285,342],"class_list":["post-3469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature","tag-chemistry","tag-duckworth","tag-journalism","tag-rhhs","tag-river-hill","tag-river-hill-high-school","tag-teacher"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/unnamed-15.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3469"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3473,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3469\/revisions\/3473"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}