Senior of the Week: Katherine S. Hernandez

By: Minseo Kim

Growing up in New England, Science Instructor Katherine S. Hernandez often went on woodland walks with her father and learned the names of scientific tree species, like Acer rubrum: the scientific name of a red maple tree. She did not learn this through textbooks, but through an attentiveness to nature. Many years later, she takes similar walks with her own children, Maddie and Max, and explores the outdoors one step at a time.

Hernandez first visited Exeter while working as the Assistant Director of Admissions at her alma mater, Mount Holyoke College, and continued exploring Exeter’s community. “After three years, I just found myself really wanting more time with students, more time to build that relationship,” Hernandez explained. She eventually met her spouse, Director of Athletic Training Adam Hernandez, while teaching biology and chemistry at Tabor Academy, and they moved to Exeter together.

Currently, Hernandez serves as dorm head of Gould House and the advisor to several residents, including lower Alysha Lai. “It is always easy to speak and talk to her… She always makes sure to have one-on-one talks with us, to check up on each person, and make sure we are all doing okay,” Lai said. “Whenever we come back to campus, there is always a jar of fresh flowers waiting in our dorm rooms. The flowers always brighten up the room, and they are always very beautiful and nice to look at.”

According to Lai, Hernandez’s pets are also big stars in the dorm. “She also has one cat (who we rarely see), and two fluffy dogs who are always there to give us cuddles and kisses after check-in.”

“Mrs. Hernandez is a bit of a Doctor Doolittle. All animals love her. Our Corgi, Owen, and Puggle, Ham, are obsessed with her. Even the world’s most standoffish cat, Noodle, loves to snuggle with her.” A. Hernandez said.

Hernandez teaches biology but her enthusiasm for the subject extends beyond the walls of her classroom and dorm. Upper Lekha Masoudi recalled the first time she emailed Hernandez about a “biology moment” after finding a frog with some friends near the Academy’s tennis courts. “She replied right away (it was a Northern Leopard Frog), talked to me about frog skin-breathing and respiratory patterns, and even told me a funny anecdote about a frog who fell onto a campus golf cart over the summer,” Masoudi explained. “Ms. Hernandez is so enthusiastic about biology and really has encouraged me and helped me to find that same love for the earth and wonder for living organisms.”

Senior Caleb Richmond agreed. “Every class at the beginning of the class, she asks if any of us have had any ‘bio moments’ in our lives where students can talk about times in the past day or so just since the last class or they've had an experience of biology,” he said. “And so sometimes that's animal tracks. Sometimes that's seeing an animal. Today a girl in my bio class was talking about the chickens that she has at home laying eggs.”

Many of Hernandez’s students shared similar sentiments about Hernandez’s thoughtfulness when engaging with Exonians. “I noticed how much she really listened to her students – whether it was feedback about class, a lab we wanted to talk about, or anxieties we had about current events, she was always receptive to what the students had to say,” senior Isa Matsubayashi added.

“Mrs. Hernandez is one of those teachers whom you know cares about you as a person,” upper Emma Chen agreed. “She always asks us how we're doing and tries to make everyone feel included despite the difficulties of hybrid learning.”

“Mrs. Hernandez is the epitome of kindness and non-sibi. She is never without a smile on her face and is always there for her students to lend a helping hand,” senior Isabel Carden said. “Her teaching style leaves you curious and always wanting to learn more. I left class not only with a better understanding of the concepts we were covering, but also more excitement and enthusiasm for biology.”

Hernandez also seeks to strike a balance between nurturing her students and pushing them to their fullest potential. “I seek to champion them while also giving them a good challenge. I think I've heard Ms. Rankin say this, and I really appreciate her way of contextualizing challenge. She'll say to her students, ‘I'm challenging you because I know you can handle this, you can do this.’” Hernandez said. “I just really liked that approach.”

“I think moments where I have felt most satisfied as a teacher [and am] most delighted are when I have a student who comes to me and says ‘I do not like biology, [or] chemistry,” Hernandez added. “And what I see in that moment from students is sort of probably some bad experiences beforehand bad in the sense that it shaken their confidence, that they see themselves as unable to do this, or there's something about their brain that makes this feel impossible for them. And I really love getting those students to a place where they feel like, ‘oh yeah, I can do this.’”

Other than biology and chemistry, Hernandez has interest in furthering Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts. “Ms. Hernandez understands that being an ally is a verb, not a self-proclaimed title… I’ve seen her skillfully serve as a bridge between differing opinions and worldviews and gently bring folks together,” Director of Counseling and Psychological Services Szu-Hui Lee said. “I’ve bared witness to her using her power to move other white folks to better understand what it truly means to create and foster an inclusive learning environment. I am so thankful for her presence in this community.”

One way that Hernandez focuses on DEI is through adapting her course curriculum. “We were learning about nutrition and digestion, which is really interesting as you learn a lot about the elementary canal and essential nutrients and minerals, but we also did a bit on food apartheid and food injustice,” she said. “That was a really wonderful conversation for students to learn about the term intersectionality, and how does intersectionality have anything to do with food apartheid? What are some of the systemic racism pieces that keep food access unequal in this country and what are some ways in which we can come at them with science and context, [which] I think is really important.”

“The article we read about food apartheid greatly enriched our Advanced Bio course, and it really help me make connections between the class and the world around me,” Chen said.

Over the last six years, Hernandez has dedicated herself to teaching science, sharing her enthusiasm for DEI work and spending time with her family while finding much passion in the process. “It is a unique joy to teach Exonians,” Hernandez said. “It’s really heartening to see my students dive right into the articles and conversations of science and topics on racism inside the science… the sky's the limit in terms of what we can do.”