A New Element

A Look Into Maclay’s Newest Addition: Dr. Bridget DePrince

Photo by Brennan Abatecola / Maclay Andalusian

This year, Maclay has welcomed a new face into its faculty: Upper School Science Teacher Dr. Bridget DePrince. DePrince has always been interested in math, but took an interest in chemistry after noticing the similarities between the two subjects.

“I’ve always been very math minded. To me, I thought of chemistry as a math class but with some applications,” DePrince said. “I could use math to figure out something.”

In college, DePrince majored in both chemistry and math. She also minored in French, and can read and write the language.

After college, DePrince sought to follow her passion for chemistry, and chose to do so through a pharmaceutical company. As an analytical chemist, she identified metals and toxic chemicals in pharmaceuticals before they were sold. However, after about ten months of this, she yearned for more, getting a PHD in chemistry before expressing her love for chemistry through teaching.

Afterwards, DePrince moved to Tallahassee to teach at Florida State University. She taught freshmen and seniors alike in many different courses, such as general chemistry and quantum mechanics. The large stage she was granted allowed her to express her love for chemistry to a wide variety of people. However, for DePrince, teaching at a major university came with one major drawback: the inability to connect with students at a personal level.

“At FSU, it was just a sea of 400 people,” DePrince said. “Just being able to interact with you guys is amazing. Throughout the classes, just to see people, even though they might be uninterested, is great.”

Now, DePrince teaches chemistry and physics at Maclay. She is a fan of the large campus, although she does get lost in it. She also appreciates the bond she has with her students and hopes to soon add a new elective to the curriculum, such as astrochemistry. So far, she has grown to enjoy her time at Maclay, with her only critique being that the lunch period is too short.

DePrince’s love for chemistry can be seen in her teaching here at Maclay. Her joy in the subject allows for students to have fun in her class, whether that be through interactive lectures or hands-on work in the lab.

“Her class is really fun,” sophomore William Chen said. “She teaches really well and has very detailed explanations.”

Overall, DePrince’s love for chemistry as a whole has helped students excel in the subject. She hopes for Maclay to be her new home, and is very excited to teach all of her students.