From left, Veronica Kotel, chemistry teacher; Karagin Miller, Crestview High School senior; Kristen Miller, mother and Crestview Elementary School teacher. Karagin worked with Kotel to develop a third-year chemistry course. (Submitted photo)

COLUMBIANA — One Crestview student’s love for chemistry has evolved into a new chemistry course.

Senior Karagin Miller sat down with her chemistry teacher Veronica Kotel at the end of her junior year to develop the self-driven third-year chemistry course.

“In the midst of our planning, the idea to present at the National Science Teacher Association conference came up, and we both agreed that it should be a goal of ours to submit a proposal in hopes of getting accepted,” Karagin said.

The conference was held in Denver, Colo., on March 19 and Miller and her mother Kristen Miller and Kotel all participated in the presentation.

Karagin said the presentation focused on the development and class structure of her third year of chemistry and the successes and struggles they faced in creating a class that has never existed before.

“For me, the biggest takeaway from all of this has been learning to plan an independent study course that is entirely student-driven, while still trying to make it a little more like what Karagin may see when she is in college next fall,” Kotel said.

Karagin hopes that other schools will implement a similar model for their students based on what they learned from the presentation.

Kotel said that she noticed Karagin’s interest in chemistry begin to grow last year.

“We began talking about how we could go about giving her a Chemistry III class, in particular, what she would study, and how we could make it work with her busy class schedule. After talking with the principal and guidance counselor, we decided an independent study course would work best,” Kotel said.

Karagin said that one of the reasons she wanted a third-year independent chemistry class was because she wanted to pursue the subject as her major in college but she did not want a gap year before her freshman year of college.

She really wanted to focus more on the research aspect of chemistry, she explained.

“From this third year of chemistry, I have gained insight into the rigor of college classes versus high school, learned real-life applications of chemistry, and became more independent in my outside-of-class learning practices,” she said.

Kristen Miller said that her daughter has always loved to learn new things but with the help of Kotel she developed a passion for chemistry.

“She is often connecting our family conversations back to what she is researching in this course. For example, suggesting which cereals we should eat based on the amount of iron she has found in them or determining which milk is the healthiest for our family to drink. She is not only making connections between chemistry and the real world, she is actively applying them to her daily life,” Kristen Miller said.

Kristen Miller also said that her role in the national presentation was to provide a parental perspective throughout the stages of the process.

She shared some of the questions and concerns that she and Karagin’s father had prior to the development of the independent study, the advantages of the course, the benefits it provided to Karagin both academically and personally, and how the experience positively impacted her future goals and aspirations.

“Karagin had the initiative to create a vision and set in motion the necessary steps to make this independent study happen. We are thankful for the environment fostered by the staff and administration at Crestview. Their continued support of her idea helped to bring it to fruition,” Kristen Miller said.

Kotel said that students truly learn better when teachers can tie what they are learning to areas of their interest.

“Additionally, students become much more passionate learners when they have a say in what they learn and how they learn it,” she said.

Kotel admitted that sometimes as en educator it can be difficult to give up that control when it comes to learning but that she has seen first hand what happens when student are given the opportunity to navigate their own learning paths.