Foregoing Research

Nucleic acids fascinate Keri King because they're "the blueprint that tells your body how to work." Until recently she considered becoming a researcher and university professor. But learning about teachHOUSTON, she decided to try out public school teaching.

After being assigned to a Fort Bend Independent School District fifth-grade class her first semester in the program, the biochemistry major switched career plans. "I liked how passionate these kids were about learning," she says. "They liked discovering things for themselves."

Although she's long read science journals and magazines, Keri took a circuitous route to her bachelor's. Now 37 and a mother of four children ages 2 to 15, she attended community college briefly right out of high school. She later attended community college again in her native Illinois, before moving to Houston three years ago. Shortly after, her husband was unemployed for eight months because the couple declined his employer's request to relocate back to Chicago. When Keri's mother-in-law encouraged her to return to school and offered to pay, Keri enrolled at UH. Because of the economic downturn, however, that financial support was to end. That's why Keri, who has a 3.59 GPA, is grateful for support from teachHOUSTON. "The scholarship made the difference between my having to go back to work or taking classes," she says.

For Keri, teachHOUSTON's small classes create a family atmosphere. "You're getting this sense of community for the first time as a freshman or sophomore," she says. "The teachers are phenomenal. They are so enthusiastic about teaching us. They care about you."

She plans to teach high school chemistry after she graduates in spring 2011. And she doesn't regret that a research lab won't be in her future. "I may not discover the cure for cancer," she says, "but I may teach someone who will."