At the Kingfisher at Bridge Creek football game, Bridge Creek Athletic Director Larry Spangler and teacher Adam Carr were presented a check for Science and Math education for Bridge Creek High School by the people of Oklahoma Oil & Natural Gas. Oklahoma State Rep. Brad Boles was also in attendance for the presentation.
This support will be benefiting Bridge Creek STEM programs and teachers. Adam Carr is one of the staff members benefiting from the donation.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. Your hobbies, your passions.
My name is Adam Carr. I have been married 24 years to my wife Julie. Julie is also a science teacher. We have two daughters, one in college and one in middle school. I love a good story, and I think the best stories are when people learn about themselves and the world around themselves in order to make the world a better place.
What classes do you teach?
I teach chemistry, robotics and aviation.
Where did you go to college and what led you into teaching?
I went to college at Southwestern Oklahoma State University. My experience there gave me the tools and confidence to be a lifelong learner, and I thought it would be a good life to share that love of learning and problem solving with others.
Who mentored you into the educator you are today?
My parents never shied away from critical thinking and being inspired to see the world differently based on the truth in front of them. More than anything being brought up in a household where critical thinking and gaining new information was normalized shaped me most as an educator.
What do you love about teaching?
I love being the guide on the side, where we can examine big questions, have big dreams and then push our way to a deeper understanding and better solutions. The best days are when kids are curious and willing to see something new and they walk away feeling powerful about new knowledge they gained.
What is great about your current school?
Bridge Creek goes to great lengths to grow programs that support all students. I have been fortunate to develop a robotics program that has been a State Champion 4 times in the last 9 years. I have a quiz bowl team that has competed at the national level in Chicago, Atlanta, and Washington DC. Quiz Bowl teams and robotics teams across the State have been to Bridge Creek because we host good events. I could not do that if the school wasn’t fully behind a variety of programs. Bridge Creek has a Forensics Club, and an aviation program, we host STEM nights and Art Nights, and have an E- sports team. I like working in an environment where teachers and students are not met with limitations when we want to do something big. In Bridge Creek, if you have an idea people are like “Cool, how do we do that?” and
then we figure it out.
The People of Oklahoma Oil and Natural Gas are committed to supporting STEM education. Why is teaching Science and Math so important?
Science and Math are the most fundamental expressions of being human. Most every animal has feelings and communicates feelings to other animals around it. But, as soon as you want to communicate observations and build knowledge that solves problems you need math and science. Even the arts in our attempt to communicate more nuanced emotions, are made richer and more profound because of our knowledge of math and science. There would be no pottery without the science of fire, there would be no paintings without the chemistry of paint, there would be no music without the science of acoustics. There would be no food without the science of agriculture. There will always be problems to solve. How else are we going to solve them? We can come up with random things to try and hope for the best, but as soon as they fail, and we try to figure out why. That’s math and science.
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