Kirstin Bullington

Columbia, SC | 7-12, Science, 2023

What motivates you to contribute to excellence in STEM teaching?

My greatest motivation to continue teaching STEM and for continuous improvement is quite simply my students, who have inspired me with their passion to solve the problems they see in our community and beyond. Knowing that former students are working as engineers, technicians, and even STEM educators themselves is the greatest indicator of my impact.

What has been the most transformative moment that affirmed your impact on STEM education?

The most transformative moment for me was after my Teachers for Global Classrooms fellowship, when I realized that when I provided the right tools, my students were more than capable of investigating the world around them, recognizing different perspectives, communicating their results effectively, and taking action to solve local and global problems. Once I shifted my instruction to this authentic project-based approach, their interest and aptitude for engineering increased significantly, and as a result, more of my students chose to pursue STEM careers.

Using your platform as a Presidential Awardee, how do you hope to advance our nation in STEM?

I hope to contribute to our nation's advancements in STEM by ensuring that all students have meaningful learning opportunities that help prepare them for their future goals. As a career technical educator, I have the privilege of learning emerging technologies alongside my students, and am revising projects to match their interests and provide any necessary STEM scaffolding. I hope to better serve my students by creating stronger connections between their STEM subjects and industry needs.

Biography

Kirstin Bullington has taught science and engineering for 22 years. She is currently the Next Energy Engineering Instructor at the Richland Two Institute of Innovation (R2i2), where her 10th-12th grade students design and optimize alternative energy solutions for local and global challenges. Her students and their energy solutions have placed in several national competitions, including Samsung Solve for Tomorrow, Global Solutions STEM Challenge (IREX), and the Biomimicry Youth Design Competition. Their collaboration with a school in Senegal resulted in a modular power apparatus which was awarded a patent in 2023. Before her nine-year tenure at R2i2, Kirstin taught science and engineering at W.J. Keenan High School for 11 years and biology at Arts High School for two years. Prior to teaching, Kirstin was a health specialist volunteer in the Peace Corps, Togo, where she discovered her passion for education. She is an alumna of Teachers for Global Classrooms (Senegal), the Transatlantic Outreach Program (Germany), and the Fulbright Japan-US Teacher Exchange for Education for Sustainable Development. Participation in each of these programs led her to discover that students show greater aptitude and interest in engineering when presented from a relevant global context. Kirstin is a Lemelson-MIT Invention Education Fellow, was the recipient of the South Carolina Outstanding Biology Teacher Award in 2013, and was named the 2022 South Carolina STEM Educator of the Year. Kirstin earned her B.S. in biology and B.A. in music from the University of Evansville, and her MPH in international health and development from Tulane University. She holds National Board Certification in adolescent and young adult science.

High-resolution version of the teacher profile photograph

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