BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — Stacie Canfield is the math department chair at Central High School and she’s finding new and unique ways to get her students excited about numbers. 

When she was in high school herself, she was not thinking about becoming a math teacher.

“I cried my way through Algebra 1,” Canfield said. “I was not a good math student in high school and I had a really good teacher that it just kind of clicked with.”

She has loved the subject ever since and started teaching nine years ago. It’s her fifth at Central High.

“I try to break it down to a level that they can grasp, like anything that they can grasp about it and then we build from there,” said Canfield.

Canfield was nominated to be featured as an A+ Teacher by Lisa Guerin, Hernando County’s district math specialist.

“She has poured her heart into a curriculum that has these students up and around the room all the time, asking questions, asking each other questions and then she has created a math club. She takes immense care of her department,” said Guerin.

Canfield started the math club at Central High four years ago. She wanted to create a space for students to celebrate their passion for problem solving. The club hosts a math bowl every year and schools across the district participate. Her goal is to make that even bigger.

“I would love it if we could incorporate more students. So instead of just doing one upper-level math competition, we could have it at the different levels,” said Canfield.

She loves helping her students make connections with what they’re learning.

“When they go beyond just, I’m just following along with whatever you’re doing because of the grade, and they start to make these connections on their own, it’s beautiful,” said Canfield.