Gleb takes maternity leave, Pipkin takes over
Aidan Janssen, Reporter & Designer
  Science teacher Elizabeth Gleb is currently taking a break from her position as the high school chemistry teacher to be on maternity leave. In early November, she and her husband welcomed twin girls, named Cora and Marion Gleb.
  The school district chose Izabella Pipkin to take over Gleb’s position for the remainder of the year.
  Having attended three different colleges, Pipkin has an in-depth involvement within the science community. After studying for a year and a half at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, she moved back to her home state of Colorado in 2014 and graduated from University of Colorado Boulder with a degree in neuroscience in 2016. However, she chose not to pursue a career as a brain surgeon.
  “I decided that my hands were too shaky, and I was too scared to operate on the brain; it’s terrifying,” Pipkin said.
  Rather than abandon science entirely, Pipkin decided to share her knowledge and passion for science with others by becoming a teacher. She obtained her teaching degree from Metropolitan State University in Denver, Colorado.
  “As soon as I figured out teaching… [was] an interest of mine, I just fell more and more in love with it,” Pipkin said. “I love the feeling when students actually understand and it clicks for them and they get excited ‘cause they understand how to write a chemical formula, or they really understand why something happens.”
  Adapting to the island has been a challenge; Pipkin had only lived on Vashon for two days before her first teaching day. Despite this, Pipkin still holds a positive view of her transition.
  “For the most part, it has been pretty good,” Pipkin said. “I really love being here, and I love this school.”
  Replacing someone who was a key part of the staff can be intimidating, and it has been difficult to join a class already in the midst of a curriculum.
  “It’s an interesting experience trying to come into someone else’s classroom halfway through the semester. I know it’s hard for the students, too,” Pipkin said “They are used to a certain style of teaching and a certain structure. So, for somebody new to come in, no matter how hard you try to stick with something or change it, it’s going to be different.”
  Pipkin’s teaching is very much student-centered. She uses a number of labs and group-oriented worksheets to teach her students, and tries to keep lecturing at a minimum. But allowing students to have a hands-on approach has proven to be an effective way of teaching.
  “The last couple weeks have been a little bumpy as far as transitioning into things, but now that we’re in the swing of my new structure, everything seems to be settling down a little bit,” Pipkin said.
  Pipkin values how accepting and tolerant the student body is of their peers and other ideas.
  “That’s something that you won’t find at a previous school I was attending,” she said. “There were a lot of close-minded attitudes that were shared among the students and the staff, and that is really hard to work with.”
  Pipkin is also impressed that her students are heavily engaged with activities and clubs.
  “I come from schools where it’s not as heavy with student involvement, so to see you all so involved is so exciting to me.”