Carrie Badger gives tons of homework, happily calling herself the "Queen of Worksheets."

Still, routinely there's a list of students waiting to get into her Carlynton High School chemistry classes.

	Tony Tye, Post-Gazette Carrie Badger, left, talks with senior Nicole Zahn, 17, as she teaches an AP Chemistry class at Carlynton High School. Click photo for larger image.
	Click image to a slideshow about Mrs. Badger's class.

Let that marinate in the brain for a moment. A list of students waiting to get into chemistry classes.

"Mrs. Badger does a great job of telling us how to do stuff and making us understand," said Scott Szuhay , a junior in her Advanced Placement chemistry class. "It's a big workload, but it's a challenge and I enjoy it."

On this particular day, students are calculating the rate laws for potassium permanganate and oxalic acid -- determining how changing the concentration of chemicals affects the speed of a reaction between the chemicals, Mrs. Badger explains.

"You'll run one trial each of experiments one, two and three, get them set up, let them sit in the test tube rack, then begin sections four, five and six," she tells her class, as she stands before them in a gray and lavender tie-dyed white lab coat.

The students scramble across the hall to the lab and begin assembling equipment for their experiments. Amid the cacophony of clinking test tubes, banging drawers, chatter and laughter, Mrs. Badger expertly negotiates the room, giving pointers, answering questions and swiftly handing someone a dustpan only seconds after a test tube shatters on the floor.

"They seem to enjoy the lab," she said. " Get that Bunsen burner out and you've got all their attention."

At 32, Mrs. Badger has taught at Carlynton all 10 of her years in the field. She has a bachelor's of science in chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh and received her master's of arts in teaching from there as well.

"She teaches in such a way that everybody can learn," said Victoria Grondziowski , a junior. "It's exciting to know that we have a teacher that's excited about doing what she loves to do."

Mrs. Badger started out in the pharmacy program at Pitt, but decided to pursue teaching.

"I had done very well in chemistry," she said. "I had an absolutely phenomenal high school chemistry teacher."

"I think that really excited her and she enjoyed [high school chemistry] so much, that maybe that's what made her become a teacher," said her husband, Paul Badger, a chemistry professor at Robert Morris University. (Her father-in-law, sister-in-law and brother-in-law are chemists, too.)

Her husband said she knows her subject, is authoritative in class and cares about her students.

"If she knows the class doesn't understand something, she'll devote the time until the class does understand," said her student, Scott. "I mean, she won't stop until she knows everybody gets it."

The phenomenal chemistry teacher Mrs. Badger fondly recalls from Mohawk High School, Kathy Kwolek, remembers her as an excellent student who was enthused about science.

Mrs. Kwolek, now assistant superintendent in the Mohawk Area School District in Lawrence County, said, "It's probably the most rewarding part of the entire teaching profession to know that any seeds that you sowed developed into programs in other areas."

Mrs. Badger's strong math background helped chemistry come easily to her. "Chemistry made sense to me," she said. "It was very logical. There were answers for things, problems to solve."

Her students said she makes all the difference in their learning experience.

"She makes stuff fun," said Drew Kury, a junior. Although she gives lots of homework, she also gives students time in class to begin their homework. So, if students have questions, they can be clear on how to do the problems even before they get home.

She also asks students to apply concepts they're learning to real world problems and situations, teaching them how what they're learning will be applicable in the future, said her colleague, David Cosnek , who teaches physics at the high school.

Principal Robert Susini said many students who take one of Mrs. Badger's chemistry classes become interested in taking another.

"Her creativity and her rapport with students certainly contributes to that," Dr. Susini said. "When I was in high school, I wish I had had teachers who made the sciences come alive as she does."

In addition to teaching academic chemistry to sophomores and AP chemistry to juniors and seniors, she teaches two regular sections of chemistry. The school also offers human anatomy and organic chemistry courses geared toward non-AP students who simply want more science.

"A lot of your regular track kids are going into nursing or a [physical therapy] training programs or nurses' aide programs or something along those lines," she said. "They need those courses for when they get out there into whatever training program they may be going into."

Life can be hectic for Mrs. Badger, the mother of 5-year-old Molly and 22-month-old Daniel, but she manages to lead around the school and not just in the classroom. She retired as track coach last year after serving four years as head coach and five years as assistant coach.

She also is president of the Carlynton Federation of Teachers. "I just really enjoy being with the kids," she said. "I really enjoy this job. I can't imagine doing anything else. I love teaching."