Many students recognize the once substitute, now math teacher, Tatyana Kearney for her outgoing personality and insightful math knowledge, but few know her dreams and desires.
Growing up in an elite Math program in Ukraine, she knew her passion from an early age.
Heading to New York City, alone in 1994, to study computer programming, she had a drive to learn more about mathematics by studying at New York University.
She knew that America was the land of opportunity.
Her professor, Dr. Davison instilled the value of education in her when he said, “Teacher’s are very valuable in America, more so than programmers working with computers all day.”
She chased innovation and sincerity across America, traveling to various states.
First, she completed a graduate program in Mathematics at the University of South Alabama. Then, she headed to Asheville NC, where she “owned” the mountains and braved winter storms having only the animals as near neighbors.
Kearney then enrolled in another program at Garner-Webb while in North Carolina to get her master’s in School Administration.
Now in Bristol for nature and scenery, she has found “treasures to society,” in each person she has met over the past years.
Various students have made an impact on her over the last three years, each having one thing in common: their depth of thinking and ability to problem solve.
When teaching, she has found herself being “taught” instead by her students, learning from their “ongoing thinking.”
With college textbooks out, students Piper Chappell, Nick Ankers, Carly Collins, and Wyatt Parker work diligently on solving complex problems. They show Kearney their innovation through logical thinking.
Kearney believes in great ideas and truth. She seeks to lead her students towards both.
Once, Kearney longed to head to Boston to earn a Doctorate in Mathematics at Harvard University. Today, however, she hopes to gain admission and complete the degree online.
She works hard each and every day, sometimes finding herself asleep with the textbook she was just reading right beside her.
Once, Kearney was a young woman heading to America on a one way flight, but now she has grown into her dreams, as an educated adult, teaching at the “legendary Tennessee High School.”
