Colton Werner brings love for both STEM and journalism to the Upper School

Among the vast number of new SPA faculty and staff this year, one stands out for his unique range of interests and hobbies – Colton Werner. Werner joins the Upper School this year as a Computer Science teacher and Publications Assistant, and will also be helping out with Science Alliance.

In high school, Werner was heavily involved in STEM. Werner loved his science and math teachers, inspiring him to follow in their footsteps. He said, “I think in high school, I was involved with STEM and made a personal connection with a lot of my science teachers, so maybe I was just hoping to pay that forward, in some respect.”

Werner originally thought about his college plans with law in mind, but that career interest soon vanished when he took a government class and found that it simply wasn’t something he enjoyed. Werner then pursued a history and Spanish major, but computer science and linguistics ended up feeling right to him, so he switched paths.

After spending around half of his college experience online, Werner is looking forward to teaching students in person. “I think it would have been a lot harder for me to teach via Zoom, or via remote learning, so I’m grateful for that,” he said.

Beyond the classroom, Werner spends much of his time soaking up the sun outside. He enjoys working in his backyard garden, golfing, and taking road trips to great hiking spots. He even has a unique interest in working on cars. When it isn’t nice outside, however, Werner loves watching Hannibal, because he is a self-proclaimed “stan for Mads Mikkelsen.”

Just like Werner’s numerous hobbies and interests, his life has many fascinating aspects as well. Werner’s love for everything life has to offer makes the job of a STEM teacher the perfect option for the next part of his career, and the SPA community will certainly benefit from his presence on campus.