Meet Ms. Genevieve Vaive-Barron, the new physics teacher in the 10-12 division. Ms. Vaive-Barron was born and raised in New Mexico, but she ironically doesn’t like chile. She prefaced the interview by saying, “Please don’t ask red or green.”
Ms. Vaive-Barron participated in MathCounts and lots of science-related clubs and activities when she was growing up. Her current favorite hobbies are stargazing and music.
She went to New Mexico Tech for her bachelor’s in physics and then got her master’s at UNM. As part of her training, she held both a research assistant position and a teaching assistant position, which is how she discovered her love of teaching. She described research for physics as “sitting behind a computer,” and found teaching in which she was able to interact with students much more enjoyable.
When Ms. Vaive-Barron decided to teach, she got a job at CNM. She enjoyed work and her students there, but growing up in Albuquerque, she said that the Academy was always the school everybody thought about. Fortunately, when she visited the Academy website, she saw that there was an open teaching position for physics.
Ms. Vaive-Barron feels like the community has been very welcoming. She says her teacher mentor has been amazing and that she is very much enjoying her classes. Looking to the future, she has been thinking about starting a stargazing club. So if you’re interested in stargazing, ask Ms. Vaive-Barron about it, and welcome her to the Academy!
