A passion for science

Passion, play and patience.

Lisa Wood balances components of each in her classroom.

The biomedical science educator selected as The Commercial Review’s inaugural Teacher of the Year is retiring at the end of the school year, marking the end of a span of more than two dozen years at Jay School Corporation.

Prior to her teaching career, she spent nearly 20 years as a nurse in the community.

Wood led a four-year biomedical science program offered through nonprofit organization Project Lead the Way for the last 16 years. (She worked for the school corporation as a nurse for five years prior.) Even as her career winds to an end, Wood’s passion for the course material hasn’t dimmed.

“I’ve learned this — science is amazing,” she said. “There’s so much we don’t know about the human body and the science, and every time we discover new things, like, that’s what my class does, it’s just amazing.”

She referenced examples such as gene editing and advancements in the quality of prosthetics for amputees.

But science isn’t the reason she changed gears and pursued a teaching position.

“I wanted more interaction with the kids,” she said.

Wood makes a point to document her students’ accomplishments, taking pictures throughout their time in the program and displaying their projects around the classroom. She helped launch the high school’s own chapter of Indiana Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA) in 2016. Some of its community work has included providing 100 meals to Asbury United Methodist Church for its Monday night meals program once a month for about three years.

A 1983 graduate of Jay County High School, Wood received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Indianapolis. She worked as a registered nurse in the area for 14 years, first as an employee at Jay County Hospital, now known as IU Health Jay, and later as a home health care and hospice nurse for Jay County Home Health Care. She recalled when remnants of her past hospital job appeared in the classroom.

“We delivered babies — it’s so funny, some of the kids I delivered were my students,” she said, a grin on her face. “That’s how a small community is.”

During an interview last week, Wood flitted around her classroom and pointed to different lab projects. Utilizing hands-on projects, she said, keeps teenagers interested.

“They want to come to school if you make it fun for them,” she said.

Principles of biomedical science, the introductory course, starts with forensics. Wood presents a crime scene for students to solve on the first day of class. Then she weaves in other course material, such as information about diseases and how to prevent them.

Second-year students in the human body systems class get a skeletal model, to which they add clay “body parts” as they learn about them over the course of the year and later utilize to demonstrate a disease or illness. Students in the third-year medical intervention class study advancements in the medical field, such as gene therapy.

Fourth-year students begin tying material from past classes into action. They have the opportunity to intern with professionals in the community, such as working for a local optometrist for a few weeks.

Wood pointed out the curriculum comes from Project Lead the Way.

“I’m just their vehicle,” she said. “I just say, ‘Here we go,’ and present it in a fun way.”

As a visual learner, freshman Chloe Cook finds it helpful that Wood coordinates projects with each lesson. She referenced Wood’s book for children, “The Human Hotel,” a piece Wood created while pursuing her teaching license. As the name suggests, it likens parts of the body to a hotel.

“She’s really good at helping people understand when they have questions,” said Cook, who is looking into a career as a paramedic for the military. “She just helps me learn better.”

Another Wood trait that students find helpful is her patience. Freshman Kaylin Hudson noted others teachers may get frustrated if their students aren’t understanding a topic. But when students struggle to grasp a concept in Wood’s class, she helps walk them through it.

Coupled with Wood’s kindness, Hudson said, her teaching approach makes the classroom a welcoming environment.

“You walk into her classroom and it’s like walking into your house,” she said. “It’s just a warm space where you can be yourself.”

Wood has learned over the years about students’ strengths and weaknesses, which change as they mature through high school. She’s aware everyone makes mistakes.

“Even in the medical field, we’re not perfect,” she said. “We make mistakes, human error. But, (we) try to get these kids ready for life, like any job.”

What makes her job worth it is seeing students thriving in the world post-school. Wood has run into multiple former students in recent months.

“One was a doctor, two were nurse practitioners, three were nurses, a couple were respiratory therapists, one was a lab tech and one was a pharmaceutical tech,” she said. “A lot of these kids become great people in the community and have awesome jobs.”

The biomedical science program at Jay County High School won’t disappear when Wood leaves. She plans to help the next teacher transition into the role as needed.

Although she’ll miss teaching, Wood is ready for retirement. Now that her children are getting married, she’s hoping to be a grandmother soon.

And she wishes the best for her students as they graduate. After all, that is why she’s a teacher.

“That’s what everything’s about — getting these kids ready for life,” she said.