Uniontown Excellent Educator values teacher-student relationships
Rebecca Devereaux|Herald-Standard
Uniontown Area High School chemistry teacher Dina Kriebel engages with her students near the end of class.
Rebecca Devereaux|Herald-Standard
Uniontown Area High School students Brandon Bell (left) and Allen Vansickle take notes during a lab activity in Dina Kriebel’s AP Chemistry class.
Rebecca Devereaux|Herald-Standard
Uniontown Area High School chemistry teacher Dina Kriebel has been chosen by her district as this month’s Herald-Standard Excellent Educator.
Uniontown Area High School student Nicholas Morgan takes notes during Dina Kriebel’s AP chemistry class.
Rebecca Devereaux|Herald-Standard
Uniontown Area High School chemistry teacher Dina Kriebel writes an equation on the board during a lab activity in her AP chemistry class.
Editor’s note: The following is part of a monthly series highlighting educators from Fayette and Greene counties who have been chosen by officials in their school districts based on their work and dedication to the area of education.
Chemistry teacher Dina Kriebel’s instruction revolves around relationships.
Relationships between molecules. Relationships between chemicals.
But it’s also about relationships between a teacher and her students, relationships that Kriebel works both inside and outside the classroom to foster.
“I like to be close to the kids. I like to involve them as much as I can. I like them to know that I care about them,” said the Uniontown Area High School educator.
“I’m very interested in them learning chemistry, and I think they really get that feeling that it’s important for me and I care about them and I want them to learn. If the kids know you care about them and that you’re interested in their learning, it’s amazing what you can get them to do for you.”
She not only teaches several chemistry classes, including a year-long Advanced Placement course, but Kriebel also serves in numerous extracurricular capacities.
She acts as cheer sponsor and Science Olympiad team sponsor. She provides after-school tutoring and helps run the school store. She has previously served as a class sponsor. And she has sat on the committee of the Uniontown Area High School Hall of Fame since the organization’s launch in 2013.
For her commitment to education and enriching the lives of students, Kriebel was chosen by officials in Uniontown as the district’s Herald-Standard Excellent Educator for November 2016.
School administration members contend that Kriebel consistently goes above and beyond for the school’s students and staff.
Kriebel said she does so to give students a comfortable high school experience.
“If you’re involved with those extra things with the kids, it helps you build a better relationship with them, and if they see you at all the events, it makes for a better classroom situation,” she said.
“The kids see it. If you’re involved and active with them, they appreciate it and they know that you’re somebody who’s there for them and that works for them, and it translates to the classroom.”
Kriebel’s command in the classroom is evident.
She teaches a complex subject not only by book but in a lab in the back her classroom, which requires close attention from her students.
“It does go hand in hand,” Kriebel said of the lab component. “I think the kids learn so much better if they can hold it in their hands and manipulate it and see a purpose for what they’re doing.
“It’s hard to read a book and understand it completely, so if you can give them some hands-on ways to look at it, see it, feel it, it makes more sense to them.”
Despite the necessity for Kriebel to hammer home the challenging material, there exists a friendly relationship between her and the students.
“They do feel very comfortable (in the classroom) and so they’re not afraid to ask questions. And I think that’s really important, just the way they’re not afraid to interact, that it’s okay to be silly as long as when I say, ‘OK, that’s it,’ we get back to work.
“But they know it’s a safe place. That’s what you want. You want the kids to know when they walk into your room that it’s a safe place and that everybody’s welcome and you appreciate having them there.”
A native of Brownsville, Kriebel earned a degree in education with a specialization in chemistry at West Virginia University.
After teaching as a long-term substitute at Brownsville Area High School for one year, Kriebel was employed by Uniontown, where she has taught for the last 21 years.
But teaching almost didn’t happen for Kriebel.
“It was kind of by chance,” she said of her teaching career. “I was at West Virginia University and I was taking chemistry classes and I absolutely loved them. Things happen in college. You take some different classes and you find out what you’re good at and what you’re interested in, and I found my niche. I’m very lucky that I figured out that I wanted to be a teacher.”
She owes it, she said, to college instructors who made learning fun. Now she wants to do the same for her chemistry students.
“It’s not easy because most people, when they think of their chemistry class in high school or college, they remember it being boring and dry. So you have to try to relate to the kids, try to make it interesting, and you really have to break it down to the most basic level so they can get a grasp on it,” she said of her teaching approach.
As she teaches her favorite subject — which she especially enjoys because it incorporates her love of math — it’s the students and those relationships that remain the most gratifying part of the job.
“I love being with the kids. They’re so much fun. They’re so interesting and it’s just so enjoyable to be with them.”