This year, Ripon High School welcomes biology teacher, Abigail Van Vuren. 

“Biology is not as small of a field as a lot of people believe; most people think ‘oh you can go into nursing, or the medical field or environmental science,’ but there’s such a huge spectrum in between that people don’t know about,¨ Van Vuren said.

Biology is not as small of a field as a lot of people believe; most people think ‘oh you can go into nursing, or the medical field or environmental science,’ but there’s such a huge spectrum in between that people don’t know about…I really want to give people more of an idea of what you can do with biology.

     Van Vuren went to Montana State University in Bozeman, Mont. to get her degree in Microbiology before returning to California two years ago to get her teaching credentials and be closer to her family. She also worked in pathology, and made slides of samples for pathologists.

     Before Montana, Van Vuren went to Colony Oak for all nine years of elementary school, where her dad still teaches. In high school, she played girl’s varsity golf for three years and graduated as her class valedictorian. She says that she enjoyed participating in the spirit days then and looks forward to doing so now.

     As for how she teaches, Van Vuren chose a unique, yet familiar way of using a point system in her classroom. She decided on using the Hogwarts Houses from J.K. Rowling’s book series, “Harry Potter”.  In ¨Harry Potter¨, there are four houses: Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. There are multiple ways to gain points for your house like participating in class discussions, answering questions in class or winning points in a jeopardy style review game.

“ I love Harry Potter. It’s just so much fun. There’s just so many aspects of it that translate really well in any classroom. I wanted to do a point system and if I could choose anything, I would definitely choose Harry Potter. I’m a huge fan, ¨  Van Vuren stated.

Van Vuren chose to teach high school biology because when she was in school, she really enjoyed the material at this level. When sitting in class, she thought about how cool it would be to teach it one day, perhaps at our very own Ripon High. She got her wish and in fact, now teaches in the very classroom that was her favorite.

     With the help of fellow biology teachers, a love of harry potter, a familiarity of campus and a want to educate people on the field of biology, Van Vuren seems to be fitting in quite nicely here in the Ripon High family.

¨I really want to give people more of an idea of what you can do what you can do with biology,¨ Van Vuren said.