New Teacher Brings Love of Science to Fairfield

Jennifer Oligino has always had a love of science. She loved it when she was even younger than her middle school students. As she began her first year at Fairfield’s St. Thomas Aquinas School, she knew that she would need to do more than just describe the inner workings of the world — she had to let the kids find out for themselves.

“I try to show them things rather than tell them things,” Oligino said. She said St. Thomas allows her to do that. Unlike her last job at a public school in Stratford, St. Thomas gives her a full lab inside her classroom to perform experiments with the students. She also has the chance to use the computerized SMART Board to use PowerPoint presentations and video clips to spice up her classes.

“I love the hands-on experience,” she added. “And with this curriculum, I get to teach a little bit of everything — chemistry, physics, earth science, biology.”

For example, over the next few weeks Oligino will build models of the solar system and its planets with her eighth-graders, teaching them about astronomy. At the same time, she’ll take her sixth-graders through a more Earth-based assignment, teaching them about ecosystems by taking them to the nearby Mill River. Meanwhile, the seventh-graders are focused even closer to home, using swabs from their own cheeks to learn about cell structure.

Though Oligino has taught middle school kids for most of her six-year career, she confesses that she had always pictured herself working with younger kids. Ever since she started with young adolescents, though, Oligino has loved the challenge.

“They’re self-sufficient enough that they can work in groups, and I can just go around from group to group,” Oligino said. “So they’re able to do a lot more hands-on work.”

St. Thomas’s middle-schoolers are glad she made the change. One of her charges, Dan Fitzgerald, nominated her for our Star Teacher contest, praising her as “kind, patient, caring and a great science teacher.”

“Mrs. Oligino's interest and love of science has been a great help to me this year,” Dan wrote. “Even though this is only her first year here at St. Thomas, she has earned the respect of both the students and staff.”

Who do you think should be Fairfield’s Star Teacher? Start the conversation in the comments below.

Click here to follow Daily Voice Fairfield and receive free news updates.