Kerry Thompson, MA

I have been teaching mathematics, science, and engineering since 1991, in a variety of schools, both in-person and virtual, within the US and internationally. I have taught a range of STEM courses including; middle school, both general education classes and classes for the profoundly gifted, PLTW Gateways Curriculum, as well as IB/AP, gifted, and college level mathematics and science classes.

I earned my Bachelor’s degree in Physics from Ithaca College, and my Master’s degree in Physics from Mankato State University (now The University of Minnesota, at Mankato). I hold New York state teacher certification in General Science and Physics (grades 7 – 12). Thus far in my wandering career, I have taught in six states, and four foreign countries.

I love the creativity and problem solving that come with teaching STEM classes. Students always have amazing ideas for how to solve challenges that are presented to them, whether within a science or engineering class. The interdisciplinary nature of engineering also allows students with passions in all areas to find a way to incorporate those passions into their designs. When given the opportunity to create, where there is no wrong answer, students can push themselves to find the best version of their ideas and allow themselves to fail during the process.

When I am not teaching, I run a community based FIRST robotics FRC team here in Nevada. I have been mentoring and running FRC teams for sixteen years and incorporate their core values into all of my classes.

My family and I love to travel, and cook food from the places we have lived and visited. I also love to do Ikebana, Japanese flower arranging, which I learned when I lived in Yokohama, Japan.