Team: Summer White
Biology Instructor
Welcome, Summer
What is your role at Merced College? My official title is biology instructor. I teach Anatomy, Human Biology, and General Biology for Non-Majors on campus and at the Central California Women’s Facility. I am also active in the AgTEC design team and the MESA Program. Tell us about yourself. What brought you to Merced College? I have been teaching for 16 years, mostly part time, and was hired full-time last fall. I have a B.S. in Agriculture, an M.S. in Animal Science, and professional experience in the medical field in phlebotomy as well as caring for developmentally disabled children in a group home. I started my love of teaching while getting my master’s degree at Davis. I had a teaching assistantship that helped me pay for school, and I realized that teaching is my passion. Then I was hired as an adjunct at Modesto Junior College, transferred to Columbia College, and finally landed here. What drew me to Merced College was that it was familiar. My friends and family used to attend classes here. But the more important thing is what kept me here. I love the sense of community I feel here with my students and colleagues. And I love the programs, grants and scholarships, that are continually created and implemented to do better for our community. And the community supports us! That makes me proud! What part of your job do you enjoy most? The part of my job that I love most is teaching the students. I love the “a-ha” moment when a concept is finally understood. I love the look of fascination on their face when we talk about a topic they can relate to or just find interesting. I love bringing students in that are intimidated by the class and making it their “favorite class this semester.” I just love letting them … do, and I learn so, so much from them too! And lastly, I love knowing they will leave my class more knowledgeable about their body or their environment, so they can make more informed decisions when it comes to things that affect them, their families and society as a whole. Why did you decide to join the Rising Scholars program? I had my eye on the Rising Scholars program for years before I joined. I started learning about incarcerated student education when I taught at Columbia, but there wasn’t an agreed-upon way to teach the course to the local prison at the time. I joined Rising Scholars because I believe that education is key to help reduce the number of incarcerated individuals by building foundational knowledge that individuals can use to increase wages, make better food, financial, economic decisions, etc., and pass down this knowledge to their families. What have you learned from your experience teaching incarcerated students? I learned that many of my students come in bearing their own challenges from life’s experiences, but they are determined and are eager to learn. They are thirsty for knowledge, and they want to show that they are trying. My students have limited resources, so any activities we might access in science that is virtual, or outside links, are not accessible. Materials they can create with outside of drawing, or writing, or using the computer programs for designing anything are limited. So, I have learned to work within these parameters and build a course to help apply their knowledge. But the fun thing is, I can include the help of my students to build an assignment. My students love helping by sharing what their resources are, and I can ask “what-if” questions about a hypothetical assignment, and they can help lead me to what might work. We can collaborate, and that’s a beautiful process. What do you like to do outside of work? I love to grow a garden. I grow fruit salad, green salad and salsa—tomatoes, bell peppers, lettuce, squash, onion, cilantro, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and so much more. I also love bake, crochet, and most of all, spend time with family. I have a granddaughter who is 17 months old, and she is a ball! What is a fun fact about you? Most of my baking is making creatively decorative cakes. I’ve made PAW Patrol characters, Lego cakes, castles, Harley Davidson tires, monster truck cakes, wedding cakes—too many to mention, but they are super fun.
SHARE THIS