In mid February, students received the sudden news that Mr. David McCall, chemistry teacher of over two years, would be leaving Mead High within a week.  

According to Eva Bailey (‘24), when Mr. McCall announced to his class he would be leaving, he said he was sad to go, and that teaching had been his dream job. Apparently he was just as shocked as his students that he would be leaving. He decided to take a job in a laboratory and make a realistic choice.  

Though many were surprised by this sudden departure, students were excited to receive new teacher Kathryn Fletcher.

While she teaches chemistry, Ms. Fletcher has an Undergraduate in Geology with a Masters and Doctorate in Geochemistry. Because of this, Fletcher has completed enough coursework in science and math to be certified to teach both subjects.

Mead is the third high school Fletcher has taught at. She began teaching in Queensland, Australia, where she mostly taught geology. She then taught in Katy, Texas, teaching biology and chemistry.

Fletcher is originally from Brisbane, Australia, but she’s done a significant amount of traveling. She came to Boston for university, for which she got a scholarship for rowing. Since then, she’s lived in New Mexico (where she met her husband), California, Italy, back to Australia, Texas, and then to Colorado. 

Though she has spent more time in the research and laboratory end of her profession, Fletcher said she actually prefers to teach. 

“Working in a lab and working with other scientists can be really fun and rewarding, but it’s individual success… I like working in the classroom because you’ve got a whole lot of students, and the success is shared,” she said.

Seeing as Fletcher has lived all over the country and the world, she has a lot of insight on different areas. In teaching, however, she said, “Everywhere I’ve been the students are great… I think teenagers are the most misunderstood group of people. When you actually get to know students in all these different places, you find they’re all just nice kids.”