FCHS chemistry teacher Carolynne Hagan is known for her passion for chemistry and ability to work well with students. Despite her popularity among students, few know her story.
Hagan was born in Asheville, North Carolina, but moved to Virginia when she was four. She grew up in Richmond and worked in her mom’s office at Virginia Commonwealth University as an assistant. She went to school at William and Mary and got her degree in Chemistry, then went to Duke for graduate school and got her Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry.
Hagan’s husband was in the military, so they ended up moving around for a number of years, including two of them in Indonesia for two years. While there, she worked as a relocation consultant. “It was a nightmare living there,” she said.
The couple was then stationed in North Carolina, where Hagan worked in a crime lab, specifically in the drug department, which required her to attend a police academy for a time. “It was difficult because I have zero athletic ability, but it was a fun time in my life,” she said.
When Hagan’s husband was later stationed in Hawaii, she took ten years off to have two children and be there for them. Her husband then retired from the military, they moved back to Virginia, and once Hagan felt that her kids were old enough, she went back to work.
At that p0int, Hagan decided to switch to teaching, although it wasn’t her first experience in the field. “During graduate school I would teach undergraduate students in labs,” she said.
Between remembering her enjoyment of this, and wanting to have a job that lined up with her kids’ school schedules, teaching in Fluvanna seemed a good option.
Hagan says her favorite part of her job is meeting new people. She loves finding out what type of people her students are and then pushing them to their maximum potential. She has been working with FCHS for 15 years, but recently began a second job at Keswick Vineyards. “It is so fun,” she said.
Hagan has two kids, both fully grown, and her youngest is a sophomore at Mary Washington University.
In her free time, Hagan loves to mess with essential oils, making lotions and bug spray, and hopes to eventually learn how to make pottery.
