Katie Wibby

About Katie

While earning her Bachelor's of Science in Chemistry from Alma College, Katie Wibby was active in the Alma College Dance Company and directed the Chemistry Club outreach program. After completing her student teaching at St. Louis High School (MI), she was named a Harlan R. McCall Scholar for excellence in student teaching. Wibby began her teaching career at St. Louis High School and joined the Arts Academy faculty in 2002. She completed her master's degree in educational technology in 2006. In addition to Wibby's activities in the classroom, she worked for two summers during college as an intern at Asahi-Thermofil, a plastics plant. Since beginning her work at Interlochen, Wibby has attended and presented at conferences related to chemistry, technology, and educational theories, including an AP Chemistry summer institute, Chem Ed conferences, and the Project Zero Institute at Harvard. Wibby is interested in integrating arts, technology, and environmental issues into her chemistry classes. Example projects include: a collaborative project with the biology classes on soil chemistry and shoreline erosion, a collaborative project with music theory students and the "Dr. Atomic" opera, air pollution monitoring and reporting via Arc GIS, and creating and editing yearly student-created lab safety videos.

I believe that all students can use science to understand the world around us. My classes focus on learning from discussions, asking questions, and observation during experiments and demonstrations.