Who’s that?

Most know that several new teachers and staff members joined our school district this year replacing retiring or resigning teachers and staff. One of the teachers who resigned last year was the infamous Mr. Jason Beltz who has been replaced by Ms. Kara Reffitt.

Ms. Reffitt teaches several classes in Beaver Area including biology, physics, which is new to her, and STEAM.

Students who have Ms. Reffitt for their science classes will see that she encourages more hands-on learning

“I try to have a bit of both hands-on learning and visual learning so all of my students have the opportunity to learn,” explained Ms. Reffitt, “lectures, in my opinion, are boring and don’t engage the students enough.”

Most teachers will teach one way or the other, but Ms. Reffitt tries to help every student learn and engage in what they are doing.

Since coming to Beaver Area, Ms. Reffitt feels very welcomed even if she is not used to the nine-period day. Ms. Reffitt used to have block rotations, meaning that she had 90 minutes with each class instead of 45 minutes.

“Since classes were so long in my previous school, I got more time with my students. Now I have to space out my schedule in order to fit everything I need into one class period,” explained Ms. Reffitt.

But not all teachers knew they would one day be on the other side of the desk.

“You know, I never thought that I would become a science teacher,” said Ms. Reffitt, “I wanted to go to college for dental or the medical field, but that changed as my college career went on.”

Ultimately, Ms. Reffitt chose to teach due to her love of helping others.

Ms. Reffitt is from our area as well! She’s from Ambridge, went to Allegheny College, then Pitt University to obtain her masters degree. In fact, before teaching at Brashear and Beaver Area, she taught in Virginia for three years. She taught biology, ecology, and A.P. Environmental Science.

“I can’t wait to see what the future holds for me in Beaver,” said Ms. Reffitt.