Christine “Chris” Mihealsick teaches 11th and 12th grade students in her Advanced Placement (AP) environmental science classes at Westwood High School in Austin, Texas. She has been a Texas public high school teacher for 22 years and has served as the science department chair for the last three years. Mihealsick earned both a Bachelor of Science in biology and a Master of Arts in science education from the University of Texas at Austin.

Mihealsick is a National Board Certified Teacher, certified in adolescent/young adult science-chemistry. She was also selected for a Fulbright teacher exchange program to Japan, the Toyota International Teacher Program to Costa Rica, and the Northrop Grumman ECO Classroom teacher for tropical research. In addition to teaching, Mihealsick consulted for the National Math and Science Initiative for eight years, training teachers across the country in AP science strategies. She has been a College Board AP reader during the summer for 11 years, scoring student AP tests and training other teachers and college professors in AP essay scoring. She received the prestigious R.L. Moore Award for inquiry-based teaching from the UTeach program at the University of Texas twice, the only alum to win twice.

Two of Mihealsick’s pedagogical priorities are positive relationships and engaging real-world science. Mihealsick works hard to build positive relationships with students and a classroom environment where everyone feels respected and valued. Mihealsick does many hands-on labs, and frequently takes students outside to do fieldwork and engage in real-world case studies.