Science, technology, engineering and math are the four subject areas many schools are focusing on and are also the focus of a camp lead by teacher Katrina Goodwin this week at a local school.

Goodwin, STEM lab teacher at Warren Central Intermediate, is spending this week as the Camp Invention director at the school.

“I’m there to make sure it all runs smoothly,” Goodwin said.

Her responsibilities over the week are to make sure everybody knows what they are suppose to do and to be available to assist the teachers and students inside and outside of the classroom. She facilitates the games students play during their lunch time break, makes the schedules and helps students check in and out.

This year Goodwin has four teachers who are new to Camp Invention, which is the first time she hasn’t had a veteran at the camp. Goodwin is proud to be the director, but sometimes she misses teaching classes during the camp.

“I miss getting to teach,” Goodwin said. “I would dress up. I would go all out.”

She said the culmination of this year’s camp is to create an epic safari park with an inflatable palm tree by constructing a lift using a pulley system.

“Each class they rotate through, they learn a little more about their end result to create a park,” Goodwin said.

Students study solar power and about the body of an insect, among many other lessons.

“It throws in elements of biology as well as the robotics part of it,” Goodwin said.

She appreciates the freedom students get in camp to use their hands and to have materials provided that are helpful to the student’s learning.

Goodwin has been a teacher for 20 years and has been at WCI for 15 years. She has mostly taught fourth and fifth grade in math and science. Now as STEM lab teacher at the intermediate school, Goodwin has third through sixth grade students.

She earned a degree is in biology and said she had planned a career of working in a lab.

“That never panned out,” Goodwin said.

While working at a casino, one of her coworkers who was also a teacher, encouraged her to pursue a career in education. She got a job and taught while she pursued her master’s degree in elementary education at Alcorn State University.

For her it’s all about the children. They are her favorite part of the day, even when they are difficult; ultimately they are the reason she goes to work everyday. She especially connects with students who seem to be outsiders.

Often times students will come back to see her, which she said does her heart good.

“It’s just something seeing them grown up,” Goodwin said. “I really appreciate that. They don’t realize how much they impact me. They help me with patience, tolerance but it also helps me to love people despite their faults.”