In preparation for the 2022-23 school year, a new biology teacher has been hired at Thomas Worthington High School. Michael Joyce is excited abouthis new role and change of pace. Unlike most teachers, he has a unique past.
“Before I came here I spent 10 years as a T.V meteorologist,” said Joyce. “I enjoyed the job a lot but it was very hard on me. I was up all night working every weekend and didn’t have a lot of time to just live outside of my job.” Joyce discovered his enjoyment of teaching while working as a meteorologist.
“About 5 years ago my station started doing these school visits where we went to elementary schools and did programs and stuff like that 3 days a week and I loved it,” said Joyce. Joyce made the decision to follow this love.
“I decided when my TV contract was up I was going to make a change to go back to school and become a high school science teacher so I did and 2 years later here I am teaching at Thomas,” Said Joyce. More specifically Joyce’s decision to teach biology came from his previous experience and job.
“I teach biology and environmental science because I have a good background in environmental astrophic science and I think biology is fascinating.” Before Joyce’s journey to go back to school and teach, he reflects fondly on his high school experience.

“I had a really good high school experience. I’m very fortunate that I was not only supported by all the teachers there but also I had a really good supportive friend network. When I was there I had a lot of fun in high school.” Joyce’s passion for science came later in high school.“It was later in my high school career that I got more interested in science, I actually couldn’t decide at the time whether I wanted to be a writer or go into the science side of things.” Unsure of what he wanted to do in the future Joyce took inspiration from one of his favorite high school teachers.“I had a really awesome ap chem teacher at my high school and he kind of pushed me to the science side of things. Not only that but he’s part of the reason I decided to be a teacher too.” Joyce’s new career change hasn’t

come easy, as managing everything a teacher has to do, can become overwhelming.“For first-year teachers it’s hard to juggle all the responsibilities of learning the building, planning the lessons, planning lessons that work but getting involved is one big thing.” Joyce is hoping to get involved at Thomas helping run the E-Sports Club and Ski Club. As the new year brings new students and teachers, Joyce is excited to be part of the TWHS community.“I’m really happy to be here, we have a lot of fun in this little room.”