At the end of the 3rd-floor hallway, one of our newest teachers, Mr. Kraft, has joined the MIA science department.
Mr. Kraft grew up in the southeastern suburbs of Houston in Pasadena, Texas. He lived there until his junior year of high school, during which his family moved to Alabama. After finishing high school in Alabama, Mr. Kraft attended Jacksonville State University in Northeast Alabama where he received a bachelor’s degree in biology with a chemistry minor.
After college Mr. Kraft began to travel, ultimately leading him on a mission trip to Australia. While he was there, a friend recruited him to help build a school in Guangzhou, China. He began teaching there and fell in love with it, so he’s been doing it for the past 7 years.
Mr. Kraft moved to Florida from China just last year and taught at Mason Classical Academy. He found that he wasn’t able to teach to his liking there, so he left to come to MIA. Mr. Kraft was familiar with teachers such as Mrs. Lombardi and Mrs. Westervelt who also came from Mason, and he followed in their footsteps.
Mr. Kraft teaches several STEM classes here at MIA, including chemistry, Intro to Engineering, and AICE Marine. He likes to keep it simple, explaining lessons and letting students work independently on assignments. He also prefers to lead students to the answer instead of telling them, helping them reach their “eureka moment.” It brings Mr. Kraft a lot of joy and inspiration to see his students succeed and feel accomplished.
One of Mr. Kraft’s favorite things about teaching is getting to know students. Whether it’s talking to them individually or doing fun science activities, Mr. Kraft values the connections he makes. He enjoys teaching chemistry in particular because of the hands-on nature of experiments that can be fun for everyone.
Outside of school, Mr. Kraft enjoys a lot of hobbies, including video editing, streaming, animating, dancing, and playing the guitar. He also likes playing soccer with friends occasionally. Mr. Kraft likes watching school football games, but would also like to see soccer and volleyball.
Let’s be sure to give him a warm welcome to the MIA family!
