Leader of Orange Unified's science program retires

After 35 years of teaching, Orange Unified's Peg Benzie retires this summer. For more than a decade she's played a key role in her school district's successful science program.

More than four decades ago Peg Benzie was a bright-eyed 21-year-old walking into her first classroom as a fulltime teacher.

"It was in North Tonawanda, New York, which is between Buffalo and Niagara Falls, and it was a first grade classroom, I had probably about 22 or 23 children in the classroom," she said.

It wasn’t too far from where she grew up. Like today’s classrooms, she says, her students’ abilities varied widely. "In the mid 60s in new york, when I walked into a classroom, there was stuff in the classroom for me to use, there were things that I could use for science or for social studies, the room came equipped," she said, "and now usually when a teacher walks into a classroom the only things that are there are the textbooks and students."

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Benzie headed to Southern California, raised a family and resumed teaching elementary school. A decade ago, after she’d finished a university science masters program, Orange Unified School District overhauled its science program. With seed money from Orange County engineer and philanthropist Arnold Beckman, the district turned its textbook-based science program that involved reading and answering questions into a hands-on, eye-popping, experience-based curriculum. The grant helped Orange Unified buy hundreds of science kits in plastic boxes about the size of two milk crates.

"This is a first grade kit, plants and animals, it comes in two different boxes, it has all kinds of different things in there, as you can see, straws and cups, and lids, and cotton balls and potting soil and seeds," she said as she opened one. Lesson plans and tests are also included. It’s science in a box. Add student curiosity and teacher enthusiasm, and presto.

"With the straws they’re actually going to be planting a seed in a straw so that they can see how the seed germinates and begins to grow. They can see the roots they can see the stem forming and so on," she said.

Despite decades in the classroom, this is what Peg is proudest of as she retires this summer, "because it affects so many children. We’re able to train teachers so they have the confidence to go out and teach the science to their classrooms and then they have, you know, 30 to 35 kids in their classroom, so that’s a lot of kids that this program is affecting."

The revamped science program’s affecting elementary school kids by raising their science test scores, says Orange Unified board member Kathy Moffat. "The way that we know this is working and making a difference for kids is that we hear our middle school teachers and principals and our high school teachers and principals having to readjust the academic offerings in their schools because kids are demanding and asking for more science classes," Moffat said.

Benzie deserves praise as the program’s field marshal, Moffat said. Along with a small staff, Benzie keeps the science kits stocked with the right stuff, and that even includes making sure earthworms are alive when they get to the classroom. Then there’s the task of making sure hundreds of boxes go to the right classrooms and are replenished after they come back to the warehouse about a month later.

Trucks bring the boxes home to roost. It’s the last time Benzie will look them over. She opens one and it reminds her of a career aspiration long ago. "Over here is magnetism and electricity, I like my physics."

She got hooked on it because of Mr. Maguire, her high school physics teacher, who made science come alive through hands-on experiments.

"When I was in high school we really had three careers for a girl to have. And that was, are you going to be a nurse, a teacher, or a secretary. One of my friends had said she wanted to be an engineer and people laughed at her. And they said, you can’t be an engineer. And the only reason you want to do that is to go to college and find a husband," Benzie said.

There’s no tally, but it’s safe to say that over a few decades, retiring teacher Peg Benzie’s efforts have led to a love of science for girls and boys in the Orange Unified School District.