STEM is a family business in Graham.

In Ben Davis’ Robbinsville High School classroom, a textbook is covered with duct tape on a shelf near the door. Handwritten on the sticker in bubble letters, it’s easy to see that this is a book about “science.”

The book is 50 years old. It is a manifestation of the phrase “wear and tear.” Shot, marked and bagged text countless times. Much loved and holds a special place in the Davis family.

The title of the book is “Science for Primary School;“ And he was the father of Ben Davis during his studies at Western Carolina University. Davis, a 2023 BWF Career and Science Award recipient, is a science teacher in Graham County, and so is his father.

At first, Davis didn’t know teaching was an inevitable future. He graduated from Robbinsville and headed to NC State University to study microbiology. He earned his master’s in biotechnology and taught lab while earning this degree. He thought he would work in vaccine development and worked there for two years, but that biology lab stuck with him. He fell in love with teaching, and went straight into the family education business.

Davis and his wife, a school counselor, decided to return to their roots in Graham County in 2007, and he has been teaching ever since.

Over the past four years, he has led a program called SciGirls for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade girls. Focusing on STEM-related careers and college awareness, skills, and experiences for women, the program allows traditionally underserved students to experience a variety of STEM activities and mentorships.

The placement in the classroom is ideal, pulling out his father’s old textbook. One of the things Davis plans to do with the BWF award money is to improve the outdoor classroom at the elementary school and provide fourth-graders with an environmental science enrichment class based on the Project WILD curriculum.

He looks forward to instilling curiosity in science at an early age.

“The goal is to get them early and get them excited,” Davis said.

EdNC: When did you know you loved science, or what made you love science?

DavisMy father was a science teacher. He started as a science teacher, then became principal, assistant superintendent, then superintendent. My mother was a primary school music teacher.

I have always been curious about science. I started reading early and my mother laughs because I read an encyclopedia.

My dad didn’t really push me into science, but he always helped me explain things, and he was the one who taught us how to build rockets. He took us out camping and fishing. So we were introduced to science from an early age.

Like every kid, for a while I wanted to be a paleontologist, because I was really into dinosaurs, then I wanted to be an astronaut. And then it went, we really got into the science. But that’s what I love to do here, is get kids excited about science and then apply it to their everyday lives.

EdNC: Which teacher had the biggest impact on you and why?

Davis: My dad was a huge influence in teaching science and always explaining the “why” of things and saying, “Hey, come here and look at this.” I had a science teacher when I entered high school, who became my colleague when I returned. Her name is Melissa Caldwell.

She was always very supportive of science and excited about anything the kids did. We can count on you to take us on a field trip or race. She was a driver here for a science class. She was such an inspiration.

And my high school math teacher. She was there for four years. We got along really well and he pushed me to go to NC State, work and experience the world. That was all very important.

EdNC: Of all the things you do in the classroom, what do you think has the biggest impact on students?

Davis: For my students, anything they can do with their hands has a huge impact. It may be a small thing, just next week, we will do pH indicators with red cabbage. And that’s a very common lab, but that’s really cool, and you can see the changes.

Those are the little things. That’s what I hear from other students who come back, and they say, “I miss your class, we did a lot of labs in there.” So it’s a little hands-on thing that takes 30 minutes, but it’s not a worksheet and it’s something they can see and measure and touch. Those things definitely have an impact.

EdNC: Looking forward, what do you think will engage future generations in science?

Davis: I think it’s about finding things that make kids curious. Now we have access to the world, right? Like the whole world. But anything that gets them asking questions and making them curious. Having fun is different from being excited.

I saw this thing on Tik Tok, I have students who want to show you. And I’m like, “That’s animation, they used animation for that,” and they were at least curious about it. Like, “Is this true? Could this be it?” Watching videos. It’s about exposing them to what science does and what we can do with science.

Editor’s note: The Burroughs Wellcome Fund supports the work of EducationNC.