Berkmar Middle School was built in June 2004, on land that was once a family farm. The school opened for the first time for the school year of August 2004-2005. Berkmar Middle was built to be the solution to the overcrowded halls at Sweetwater Middle School.
Berkmar has been around for 13 years, faculty and staff have come and gone, the same way students leave those halls. A teacher that has been there from almost the beginning is Mrs. Desrosiers. She has been a Berkmar Middle Patriot for 10 years.
Mrs. Desrosiers is originally from Saginaw, Michigan. She attended Swan Valley High School and graduated as a Viking. She attended college and graduated from Michigan State University. After graduating college, Mrs. Desrosiers had a job interview with Berkmar and the rest is history. Mrs. Desrosiers has always been interested in science. Getting the job at Berkmar and still working there as a connections science teacher means she is pursuing what she loves to do.
“I have always loved science. I think I chose to teach science because I had the most amazing science teachers in middle school and high school. Every single one of them made science interesting, challenging, and fun. It was always those classes I looked forward to the most,” said Mrs. Desrosiers.
She loved science so much, she decided to major in Human Biology.
Little does Mrs. Desrosiers know that she did instill a love for science the way her teachers did for her. “I do not really like science, but I actually learned to like it because of Mrs. Desrosiers, the way she taught was impacting. She made me more interested in learning biology,” says former student Daniela Palma, now a sophomore at Berkmar High.
Mrs. Desrosiers is not only just a science connections teacher, she is also a guidance figure to her students, and she is there when they need her. When asked what she would say to her former students, as well as current students, Mrs. Desrosiers stated, “Be a life-long learner. Learning doesn’t stop when you are out of the classroom. It continues throughout your whole life. Embrace learning, ask questions and be curious.”
Mrs. Desrosiers has no regrets with the career path that she chose. She wouldn’t do anything differently, and because of that, Berkmar Middle School thanks her.
