The Golden Trident

By Kamryn Casebeer

Mrs. Madison Webb is a second-year teacher here at Golden teaching biology, and if you have been in her class, you should know about her happy, bubbly personality. Biology can be a hit or a miss, you either love the class and you understand the work, or you hate it and it doesn’t make sense. For me, it was neither, the class itself was very enjoyable but some of the work felt impossible. But being in Webb’s classroom made it easier because she accommodates every student, and helps you no matter what. 

This isn’t Webb’s second year teaching in general, before GHS, she was a student teacher at Carmody Middle School, and then landed a teaching job there, where she taught for five years. Now, there must have been major differences between teaching the different grade levels, so I asked her exactly what those were.

“High schoolers can listen to a full set of directions and then complete the task whereas middle schoolers, I would have to give them one direction, then release them, and then catch them back, and then give them the next direction, and release them, and then catch them back,” she said.

 Since the only subject that Webb teaches is biology, that means she mainly has sophomores and freshmen in her classes. 

Going into education was just the right thing to do for Webb, especially here at Golden, because when asked what her favorite thing was about teaching here she said, “I would probably say the students honestly. You guys are all phenomenal and are so much fun to work with. The behavior issues that I dealt with at my last school were really intense and it took a lot of energy whereas the Golden kids are so compliant, and they’re here, they’re ready to learn, and I’ve created some really great relationships with you all.” 

Lots of people wonder why and what inspired teachers to do what they do everyday,and when asked about this she Webb said, “I’m kind of a goofy person, and I like being around other people and talking to people and I have always had kind of a knack for science but then I realized also that school was one of my happy places.”

Webb didn’t originally go to school to be a teacher. She first went to the University of Minnesota and studied chemical engineering for one semester. Then she transferred to Saint Cloud State University in Minnesota and studied medical laboratory science which is when “I realized that I didn’t want to be in a sterile hospital environment, and then I took a gap year.” During that gap year, Webb was, “working at Starbucks and I would think to myself about what I wanted to do and what kind of careers would satisfy those wants for me. Where I could be myself, working on my feet, being around others.” After that year is when she knew what she wanted to do and went to the University of Colorado, Denver to get her Bachelor’s Degree in biology and her Masters Degree in education. 

Webb has lived in South Dakota, Nevada, Canada, and now Colorado but she calls it home here in the Mile High state because it’s the place that she has lived for the longest time. Her and her husband Joe, actually live very close to Red Rocks Amphitheater and love to go see shows there and spend time together. Webb and her husband are expecting their first child very soon, and she is going on maternity leave in late September. Asked how she felt about maternity leave and being a first time mom and excitedly she said, “I am nervous, I care a lot about my classroom and my students so it’s kind of weird being here for a month and then not being able to be here for the rest of the semester, but I’m also really excited to be at home with my husband and my baby, and I think it will be a really nice start in January, almost like a cut, it’s not like I’m coming back in the middle of something.” She also stated that the two are waiting to announce their baby boy’s name until he is born.

Pregnancy can definitely be scary for a first time mom. Webb said “I found out that I was pregnant on January 10th, and I would say that by February 1st, I was so sick. I was vomiting everyday, anywhere from two to eight times a day, up until the middle of June, so for the first 27 weeks it was really gnarly. Once that subsided, it has honestly been really great. Most women enjoy their second trimester but I really enjoyed my third trimester.” Webb has been enjoying being back and teaching while she can, but is also very excited for the new chapter in her and her husband’s life.