Becoming a teacher seems to run in the family for Columbus North science teacher Stacy Doub. Her grandparents met as teachers, and her aunt was a teacher. Her mother trained to be a teacher but raised children instead, later returning to school to get a degree in counseling.
And now, in her 34th year in the field, Doub has been named 2021 Teacher of the Year for the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. She was honored at the school board’s Aug. 23 meeting with two plaques. One is a continual plaque to be hung in the entrance of the administration building and the other is for Doub to keep. Bartholomew Consolidated School Foundation Director Suzi Bruin also presented Doub with a gift of $500.
Despite coming from a “long line of teachers,” Doub didn’t expect to be a teacher herself. In college, she did a great deal of research and spent a lot of time alone in a lab, which wasn’t the best fit. After earning her undergraduate degree, she felt lost.
Then she got a job in the Indiana University School of Education and noticed that everyone who came into the program was excited about teaching. It made Doub realize that such a career might be the right one for her after all.
“It’s really where I was meant to be,” she said. “I was called to teach. I just didn’t answer the call right away.”
Doub taught for two years in the Linton-Stockton School Corp. before joining BCSC in 1990 to teach science at Columbus North. She’s remained in that role over her 30-plus years with the school corp.
For her, the best part of the job is working with students.
“When you see a student get something, they really do light up,” she said. “When that comprehension dawns and you see it on their faces, that is the best feeling in the world, to know that you had something to do with them figuring something out.”
The most challenging part of her job? The time that goes into it. For Doub, it often seems like there’s so much she wants to do and only so many hours in a day, so a part of her work is being realistic about what can be accomplished.
During her career at North, Doub served as a Science Olympiad coach for a time. She also helped design the High School Intercurriculum Program or “HIP.”
Her current extracurricular work mostly involves helping other teachers with technology — and she’s done quite a bit of that during the pandemic.
“I was sometimes making videos to teach my kids and sometimes making videos to teach teachers how to do things,” Doub said. “But I was happy to help because I feel like I ultimately reach more kids when I help teachers figure out how to do something new and cool. And during the pandemic, we needed to do everything we could to reach the kids and be as flexible as possible. So the more we understood the tech tools, the more flexible we could be.”
Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Gina Pleak said that Doub has been a member of several professional organizations and many different committees during her time at North.
Science department chair Denise Briner-Richardson, BCSC technology director Nick Williams and C4 Instructor Alex Whaley all wrote letters recommending Doub for the award, she said.
These recommendations mentioned her impact on students, “drive to constantly improve as an educator,” mastery of educational technology and willingness for collaborate with other teachers.
Doub said she’s also learned a lot from her peers. She said that the school corporation is full of amazing and passionate teachers, which has made the experience of winning the district award both an honor and “very humbling” for her.
“I can’t emphasize enough that there is so much talent in BCSC, and I’ve learned so much,” she said.
One of her methods is making sure to take advantage of learning from other teachers and what they do, and using it for her own students.
“…The best teacher is the best thief because you steal good ideas from people. And I do that right and left. I see or hear about a good idea, and I steal it, because I just want to do the best job I can for my kids.”
