The STAT Teacher Spotlight is a video Q&A series featuring great teachers who inspire discovery of the world through science. If you know a colleague with an amazing story, nominate them to be featured in a future Teacher Spotlight by emailing STAT at [email protected] with the subject line Teacher Spotlight.

Meet McKinzie Sanders, who began her teaching career in August 2008 at Atkins Middle School in Lubbock, Texas, after graduating from Texas Tech University. She is currently teaching sixth- and seventh-grade advanced science and AVID Excel, an AVID class designed to accelerate the progress of English language learners. McKinzie has held several leadership positions on her campus, including serving on CPOC, on the literacy team, on the Curriculum Team, on the AVID site team, and as a Campus Academic Leader. She has been a mentor during New Teacher Academy and for teacher candidates in the Tech Teach program at Texas Tech. She is currently working as a staff developer and coach for AVID Excel. She is also the recipient of STAT's 2021 Outstanding Middle School Science Teacher of the Year Award. In addition to her role as a teacher, she is also a mother to four children with ages ranging from 3 to 11.

Christina Hotchkin is a high school chemistry teacher in the Austin area. She has a master’s degree in secondary education and a B.S. in chemistry from Texas Tech. It is there that she started working with educators and found her drive: making science fun and relevant for students and empowering preservice teachers to teach science. Christina is also a Member-at-Large on the 2021–2022 STAT Executive Board. When she isn’t chasing around her three kids you can find her curled up with a good book!