I attended K-12 in Coral Springs in the 80s and 90s. At Ramblewood Middle School, my assigned special subject was computers. We played a lot of Oregon Trail and Odell Lake and used primitive coding to create King Kong climbing up computer screens (yes, we actually stacked computer screens on top of each other).
My computers special was 100 percent boys. 100 percent boys! I remember asking my guidance counselor if I could change my special to peer counseling. For those who went to Ramblewood Middle School, the peer counselors put on a yearly show, “Just say no to drugs” to the song, Total Eclipse of the Heart – the pep rally was terrible and awesome at the same time. I was told I could not be a peer counselor because there were already too many girls signed up and they “needed me” in computers. This was an accepted trend growing up; boys were “needed” in technology and science while girls were “needed” in the soft sciences and arts.
Growing up, our teachers constantly preached, “You can be whatever you want when you grow up.” What they really meant to say was, “You can be whatever you want when you grow up … as long as it’s gender
appropriate.”
Fast forward to 2020.
Kristin Meis is the Engineering and Robotics Specialist at Park Trails Elementary. Kristin also serves as the school’s liaison for the Math and Science departments for the district. This year, Kristin was nominated for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science, after being awarded Teacher of the Year at Park Trails Elementary for the 2019-2020 school year. The Presidential Award is the highest recognition a teacher can receive in the United States.
The idea of a woman receiving the Presidential Award for Mathematics and Science, for Engineering and Robotics, nonetheless, may have seemed crazy to some 30 years ago. Science teachers were predominantly men. English teachers were predominantly women.
Now, because of trailblazers like Kristin, all children, both boys and girls, are encouraged to love STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) at a young age. Kristin resides in Parkland with her husband Rob and two children, Macy, 14 and RJ, 12. Kristin became a teacher in 1999 after graduating with her Master’s in Education from the University of Florida. Kristin accepted the Engineering and Robotics position at Park Trails last year after having been a classroom teacher there since 2013. She was excited about students solving problems (Kristin calls them “design challenges”) with not only their minds but with their hands.
She created her Engineering and Robotics lab with students in mind – shelves line one wall filled with materials students use throughout the year. Kristin encourages her students to use engineering and design processes — ask, imagine, plan, create, improve, and communicate — to solve problems. The materials wall serves to expand her students’ minds while providing them with limitless opportunities to find solutions. Students learn not by memorizing formulas, but by working through challenges in teams.
For example, during virtual learning, the intermediate grades created a “Helping Hand” for their design challenge using just straws, strings, and tape. This exercise led to an in-depth discussion between her students about different body systems, particularly the skeletal system and the 206 bones in their body. Her students learned about the 27 bones in each hand, 26 bones in each foot, and more.
In a world where children are on their devices for hours on end, Kristin challenges them to think creatively and “outside the box.” Kristin loves creating novel ways to teach her students while not relying on traditional textbooks. Like Mr. Miyagi teaching Daniel LaRusso (The Karate Kid, 1984), Kristin’s students may not even realize that she is arming them with life skills that will help them throughout their entire lives and in the workforce.
Kristin is an inspiration to all women who were ever told that STEM is a “boys world.” Girls can be whatever they want when they grow up. To use a science term, “They are bound by nothing.” Better yet, to use a quote from Cady Heron in Mean Girls, “The limit does not exist!”
Parkland is lucky to have not only a Presidential Award-Nominated Mathematics and Science teacher, but an amazing person who loves her students and her career. Thank you, Kristin, for encouraging a lifelong love of robotics and engineering to boys and girls. Let us all root for Kristin to be recognized in Washington in 2021 as one of the best Mathematics and Science teachers in the country!
Philip Snyder is a partner in the Delray Beach law firm Lyons Snyder Collins.