Dr. Olivia Butler was my mentor for the AIT program at Florida Atlantic University. I was so nervous starting this new experience but she made me feel so confident and comfortable in what I was doing. I loved hearing wise words of advice as well as daily talks with her during my planning time. Dr. Butler is an inspiring person and anyone would be lucky to have her as their mentor. If I could have her in my classroom next year I would. She truly made my experience amazing.
– Elizabeth Johnson
I would love to see Dr. Olivia Butler be a mentor for someone else in the AIT program at Florida Atlantic University.
Dr. Butler was my mentor during the Accelerated Introduction into Teaching with Florida Atlantic University. During this time, I received support, guidance, feedback, and invaluable wisdom. I always felt that I could ask Dr. Butler’s opinion and know that her feedback was honest and would help me to succeed. I could not have asked for a better mentor and counselor. Words cannot truly express my gratitude for this experience. Thank you so much for all that you do. I hope to keep in touch!
Thank you for all of your grace, empathy, and wisdom!
Brianna
I hope to continue to lean on Dr.Butler and follow in her footsteps and become a principal.
Dr. Butler – My name is Lauren Kessler, and assuming I’ve done a good job in Internet searching, you were my 6th grade science teacher at Slavens Elementary.
While I had a passing interest in science at that point, it was only that. I didn’t think I was very good at the “mathy-sciencey” stuff – and despite my parents’ encouragement, my mind was set. Then you showed up on the scene. Here was this confident woman in science, and she was MY teacher! I was over-the-moon. My mother mentioned to me a few years ago that she never heard about a teacher more than she heard about you.
I remember an oil and water experiment you did. I didn’t get it. Outside of class, the boys teased me for being “soooo dumb, but it was ok – girls ARE dumb”. You offered to stay late and walk through the steps. When you said “just write down what you see”, I wrote down what I saw, and then you said “so why do you think the oil and water did that?”. The statement and the question was as if you gave me the key to life itself. It wasn’t about knowing the right answer, it was knowing about how to get there. To this day, my friends comment that my favorite phrase is “I wonder why…”
I have had a great STEM career over the past decades, and am now at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory. I truly believe that you were the one who ignited that fire in me. In my mind, you have accompanied me through all my schooling, and at every job since.
Words cannot truly express how much I value your influence on my life, but I hope this note conveys a little bit of my appreciation.
Thank you for being my teacher and for all that you taught me.
Lauren
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