A deeply dedicated teacher known for spending summers in places like NASA and the Smithsonian Institution to bring innovative lessons home is this year’s Killeen ISD secondary teacher of the year.
An award presentation crew made up of district and campus leaders surprised Nolan Middle School science teacher Karen Pierce Tuesday with the elite district award.
Now in her 23rd year teaching, Pierce is a Smithsonian Institution teacher ambassador. She earned that two-year honor in the summer of 2023, one year after spending a week in training at NASA.
“Every student deserves a dedicated educator to inspire, foster engagement, and ignite curiosity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics,” Pierce said in describing her teaching philosophy.
“I consistently strive to enhance each student’s subject knowledge, encourage innovative thinking, and inspire students through real-world applications and global collaboration.”
In addition to teaching a full schedule of science classes, Pierce is the school’s tennis coach and has coached track, filled in for the theater director and is part of leading the UIL academic team.
She grew up in Oregon with teacher parents and said she was determined not to follow them into the education field. She also loved science and, if she was a little taller might have been an astronaut.
“I really love teaching science because kids are already naturally excited,” she said. “I feel like I have a little bit of a head start and I just have to help them along. We build so many things, use technology, stay hands on and keep them thinking.”
Summing up the most satisfying part of her work, Pierce said, “The best feeling is to have a student who has struggled and then finds that success on a test or a project or a feeling of accomplishment for building something correctly and having it turn out right.”
Her husband, Timothy Pierce, is also a science teacher at Nolan Middle School. Keeping the secret from her wife, a naturally curious person, was a challenge, he said.
Somehow, he and his colleagues managed to keep the secret until the celebration reached her classroom.
“We heard the noise coming down the hall,” she said, “and the kids said, ‘Ms Pierce, we think that’s for you.’ Being a campus teacher of the year was an honor,” she said.
“To be district secondary teacher of the year is a little overwhelming and super exciting.”
The Nolan science teacher received her surprise honor shortly after the same crew visited Trimmier Elementary School and honored first-grade teacher Caitlin Dunnells as the KISD Elementary Teacher of the Year.
Both receive $5,000 and are KISD’s entries into the teacher of the year program for Region 12 Education Service Center, a qualifier for the state teacher of the year.
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