Angela Johnson: The Mother Figure of Chemistry

Angela Johnson is not only a chemistry teacher, but she is an inspiration to her kids, students, and faculty and community members. Her drive to be the one that’s always there to help and to rely on is what sets her apart from others.

Johnson has always been the so-called mother figure. I would know, as I grew up around her and her family. Going river tubing, bowling, or just hanging out with each other was the norm. We got distant over our middle school years, but I still knew she was always there, watching over my shoulder and being supportive of every decision I made.

Fast forward to the start of the 2023 school year, I had my first class with her and I knew right away it was going to be special. The first time our class met together, she immediately started talking to everyone and getting to know everything she could. She even went out of her way to share a laugh with every student.

Johnson isn’t just a mother figure to her students, she has put two of her own children through the Superior School District: Aaron Johnson who graduated in 2023 and her youngest, Brynn Johnson, who is currently a junior in the graduating class of 2025.

“As her daughter, she is one of the first people that I go to in the building when things aren’t going right,” Brynn Johnson said. “She has also made it very aware that if any of my friends ever need anything that she is there for them too in a way that is super cool as well. Her room is always open.”

Johnson dislikes when students aren’t performing as well as she knows they can in her class. She has the drive to get all her students to pass her class, even if it is by doing the bare minimum and sacrificing her own time or changing the way she teaches a certain subject, so that the student that needs help has the ability to receive it in a way that makes sense to them.

“My goal as a teacher is obviously I want every kid to love science but that’s not always the case,” Angela Johnson said. “I think everyone that comes into this room on day one should be able to walk out of here with a chemistry credit and when the occasion comes and that isn’t the case it just breaks my heart.”

Johnson is also the Interact Advisor and has been for over 20 years. Some students brought it up to her in her first couple years of teaching and she has kept it going ever since. It’s a great way to bring the community and people together who are not normally connected. This is just one of many things that she does for the community. I remember walking into her classroom not so long ago and the back lab stations full of donations of deodorant sticks, toothpaste, and body wash. She is someone who doesn’t give up on anyone, no matter their situation, and is always happy to help.

Johnson is kind, compassionate, caring, ambitious, empathetic, interested, honest, gentle, witty, and considerate. Nobody would argue a thing on this list because of the impact she’s had on my life and in the people’s lives around her.