It’s the start of a new era at Lambert iGem. Mrs. Sharer has taken over the program from longtime teacher of 11 years Mrs. Standeven. With a new project around the corner along with a new lab coming soon, the future of the program looks brighter than ever.
The path for Mrs. Sharer started in college labs, where she spent eight years researching at Emory University. There, she focused primarily on behavioral neuroscience, doing research to find the molecular basis for behavior. Additional experience included time at the University of Alabama at Birmingham researching the causes of diabetes.
The time as a professional scientist came to an end when Mrs. Sharer took time to start a family, with her path leading to Forsyth County Schools where she spent time working as a substitute teacher, bouncing between classrooms and falling in love with a new occupation.
“I really enjoyed teaching, and that’s kind of why I originally went into the PhD program—I hoped to teach at the college level,” Mrs. Sharer commented.
Eventually, substitute teaching turned into a full time job teaching at the high school level. After teaching Honors Chemistry for two years and becoming involved with iGem by shadowing last year, the time came for Mrs. Sharer to take over one of Lambert’s most prestigious organizations.
“I went back and got a masters in secondary education chemistry, and then I did student teaching at Alliance (Academy for Innovation) and then came here,” Mrs Sharer said.
Inheriting one of Lambert’s most renowned programs comes with its own list of qualifications and demands. Thankfully, according to Mrs. Sharer, iGem members are in a class of their own when it comes to their motivation and work ethic.
“This is an amazing program. It’s very intimidating to take on such a successful group of people; they are some of the brightest, most hard-working people I’ve met, not just high school students,” Mrs. Sharer said.
iGem is looking to keep the momentum going from last year’s world championship, where they secured the title as one of eight high schools in the Paris competition, which included competitors from colleges and high schools from around the world. The continued success has seen the program grow, expanding out of a single classroom to a new annex at the back of the 1400 hallway that will be opened later this school year.
“The county has funded a healthcare annex, which will be half biotech and half sports medicine,” Mrs. Sharer added. “We’re only one of two (high school) biotech programs in the county.”
While construction is mostly complete, the plan is to move in sometime towards the start of the second semester. Lambert iGem heads off to Paris for their competition on November 2, with an opportunity to win back-to-back world championships.
