Teaching at BSM since the year 2000, Ms. Roushar, a science enthusiast, has taught numerous classes ranging from AP Biology to 9th-grade Physical Science. Roushar’s enthusiasm for education makes her stand out among the BSM community. As she begins her 26th year at BSM, her devotion to teaching continues to grow.

Roushar attended the University of St. Thomas for two years before switching to the University of Minnesota for an additional four years. She majored in chemistry and biology, then received her master’s in education. Roushar’s inspiration for majoring in biology came from her sophomore biology teacher. He excited her with his bizarre stories and experiments, never failing to keep her on her toes. “He wanted to swallow a penny [attached to] dental floss, and let the penny go all the way down his digestive tract, [and when it] came out the other end, he wanted to cut it and see how long his digestive tract was,” Roushar said.

Before pursuing her teaching career, Roushar gained insight from various experiences, which helped her find her path to teaching. She worked at Valleyfair for four summers in college. She also taught at Shakopee before interviewing for the position at BSM in 2000. Growing up in a public school system, Roushar explained she didn’t know much about BSM and was nervous before starting. One change she had to get used to at BSM was the element of prayer. “Then you get used to it [and] you feel like it’s good for you and good spiritual practice to get through,” Roushar said.

Roushar says her favorite part about teaching at BSM is that every day is different. There is never a time to be bored, and compared to a “desk job,” she much prefers teaching. For her, the most rewarding parts of her job appear in two ways. The first way she explained is when students come back to her class and thank her because they ended up majoring in chemistry or another science field. The other most rewarding part of her job is seeing students understand something they were struggling with before. “I would never give you anything that you can’t accomplish. You just have to work until you get it, and then when they [say], “I finally get it”, that’s the reward, that they finally got it,” Roushar said.

Ms. Roushar stands out at BSM through her devotion, experience, and character. Her energy and positivity radiate throughout the BSM community each day. Sophomore Macee Jacobson has Ms. Roushar as a teacher for chemistry and notes her positive impact. “She always likes to say hi to [students], and you always see her in the hallway with a big smile on her face,” Jacobson said.