Many people may not be aware of what goes on in their teachers’ lives outside of class. Besides this, a lot of teachers’ lives are based around their students. Christina Duncan-Flory is a staff member at BHS who teaches various classes. These include Principles of Bio-Medical Science, Human Body Science, Medical Interventions and Bio-Medical Innovations. Outside of her regular classes, Duncan-Flory is also the sponsor for HOSA, which stands for Health Occupation Students of America.
Duncan-Flory attended Butler University in Indiana to pursue her career in teaching. However, teaching was not what she originally pursued.
“I worked in a restaurant, and I always enjoyed customer service. That was something I did all throughout high school and college. I managed restaurants for a few years after I graduated, but I decided that was not where I wanted to be,” Duncan-Flory said.
Despite going into the food service industry, Duncan-Flory said that she knew deep down that she wanted to be a teacher.
When questioned on what sparked her interest in teaching, she said, “My mom was a teacher and so was my grandma, so I come from a line of teachers.”
Now understanding what took her down the teaching path, there is still the question of why she is so passionate about science? Duncan-Flory explained that she has always had a passion for science, and she loves to help people understand the content of the subject.
Duncan-Flory has been the HOSA sponsor for several years. Some of her previous students wanted to start a chapter at BHS, and she agreed to support them. HOSA is full of diverse students who have many different skills. Duncan-Flory repeatedly stated that HOSA is like DECA, but for health sciences.
“It is a national organization, and we are part of Indiana Chapter and the National Chapter. It is designed to help students learn more about healthcare and careers, but also to enhance their skills, speaking, writing, presentation. Just like how DECA goes to conferences and competes, we do the same,” Duncan-Flory explained.
HOSA spends their year preparing for the state leadership conference they attend in the spring. At the conference, students compete in various events of their choice. These events include skillsets of healthcare, medicine and science.
When asked about what teaching really means to her, Duncan-Flory was deeply passionate about her students.
“Even though teaching can be frustrating sometimes, it really is the students that I love the most. The longer I have taught, I have learned that it is not so much the content I teach, but the trivial things I do that I never even noticed which make a difference to a student. That is why I come to work every day, because students will tell me something I did that I had no idea impacted them,” Duncan-Flory said.
