EDUCATIONA4 (RL)SUNDAY, APRIL 13, 2014

OBSERVER & ECCENTRIC MEDIAHOMETOWNLIFE.COM

KAREN SMITH, EDITORKSMITH@HOMETOWNLIFE.COM313-222-2098FACEBOOK: HOMETOWNLIFE.COM

“Chemistry puns? I’min my element,” a Chem-istry Cat meme says.

Kathleen Kitzmann ofRedford can relate tothat and more. She wasrecently honored withthe top national prize ahigh school chemistryteacher can receive, theJames Bryant ConantAward in High SchoolChemistry Teaching.

A teacher at MercyHigh School in Farming-ton Hills, Kitzmann is inher 40th year of teach-ing, including 23 yearstotal at Mercy, two yearsat Taylor University inIndiana and 15 years atRedford Catholic Cen-tral.

“It’s sort of like thepinnacle for a highschool chemistry teach-er. It’s incredible in thatregard,” Kitzmann said.

“It definitely sur-prised me,” she said “I’mabsolutely thrilled andvery honored and veryhumbled.”

She’s come a long waysince her high schoolchemistry classes atThurston High School.

It’s a field traditional-ly dominated by men andback when she startedstudying it there werenot that many women inchemistry. “There’s morenow, of course,” butthere are still mostlymen in the field. “When Itook my second-yearclass in high school itwas 12 boys and me,” shesaid.

Even though chem-istry has always comeeasy for her, she enteredcollege as an undeclared

major. “I liked a lot ofthings. I didn’t knowwhat I wanted to studyfor sure,” she said.

Positive experienceBut after her fresh-

man year in which shehad a very good chem-istry instructor, shemade her decision. Shereceived her bachelor’sdegree in chemistryfrom Taylor Universityin Indiana and a master’sdegree in medicinalchemistry from the Uni-versity of Michigan.

“It’s all that I’ve evertaught. I don’t even real-ly have a teaching mi-nor,” she said.

She tries to instill anappreciation for any ofthe sciences in her stu-dents at Mercy, an all-girls Catholic school. “Wehave a strong sciencedepartment,” she said.“We just want the stu-dents to not hate science,basically.”

Kitzmann literallywears her love of chem-

istry: She wears chem-istry-related jewelrysuch as pieces that depictelements or the periodictable – she even has ear-rings in the shapes of abeaker and a flask.

She wears a color tomatch that day’s lesson,and she teaches aboutthe water molecule withMickey Mouse ears,because it has a similarshape. She wears hot airballoon earrings whenshe teaches about gaslaws and she has a bump-er sticker that has“teacher” spelled in ele-ment symbols.

And Chemistry Cat,the humorous Internetmeme, is also welcome inher classroom.

Her spirit of fun andenthusiasm inspires herco-workers.

Lisa Schrimscherteaches with Kitzmann atMercy and nominatedher for the award.

“It seems like teach-ers are the brunt of a lotof criticism these days. It

is great to tell everyoneabout someone who doesit right. After 12 years ofteaching chemistry withKathy, I know she hasmade me a better teach-er,” Schrimscher said.

“She sings chemistrysongs, pulls out dozens ofmoles for mole day,comes up with creativeand fun activities forscience club, and doesn’tshy away from teachingthe tough stuff,” she said.

Honored in DallasKitzmann received

her award, which in-cludes $5,000, in Dallason March 18, and one ofthe highlights was thatone of her former stu-dents, now a PhD chem-ist at Shell Oil, attended,she said.

She has also taughtanother student who isnow a PhD chemist aswell as pharmacists,doctors and nurses, shesaid.

She stays active in herfield and attends work-

shops to get new ideasand presents at work-shops to share her ideaswith other teachers,Schrimscher said.

Kitzmann also headsthe Metro Detroit Sci-ence Fair at Cobo Halleach year as a judge andco-fair director.

From all that youmight think chemistry isKitzmann’s only interest,but you’d be wrong.

She plays cello, piano,guitar and a little bit ofbanjo. She began celloand piano at age 10.

“I always say chem-istry is my vocation andmusic is my avocation,”Kitzmann said.

She plays cello for allthe musicals at MercyHigh School in Farming-ton Hills, as well asweekly at her church,Trinity Church of Livo-nia.

She also started aband six years ago called“Chrome Folk Bar-B-Que,” which has nowevolved into “Chrome

Smoke.”And did we mention

theater? She also is onthe board of directors atTrinity House Theatre inLivonia.

That affiliation start-ed in 1993 when she audi-tioned for a part. Sincethen she has worked asstage manager and assis-tant director amongmany other positions.

Retirement is outthere in the future, butfor now she still enjoysbeing in the classroom.

“I don’t think I’ll everbe out of the field. I wantto still be involved withteachers and studentssomehow,” she said.

“I think what I likebest is being able toshare my enthusiasm andmy love for chemistrywith students, and thensee them when they havethose light bulb momentswhen something makessense ... when they arejust amazed at some littlechemistry thing we’redoing,” she said.

Award-winning chemistry teacherhas all the right formulas

By Beth JachmanStaff Writer

Kathleen Kitzmann explains a lab procedure to one of herAP chemistry students. She is wearing purple because thetitle of the lab is “Crystal Violet Kinetics.” Her lab apronsays “Chemistry is just like cooking ... Only don’t lick thespoon!”

Kathleen Kitzmann of Redford teaches chemistry at Mercy High School in FarmingtonHills. Here she is pictured with one of her AP chemistry classes last fall.

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