When at a dinner party in her mid-20s, Amy Bujacz was asked one simple question: What would you be doing if money didn’t matter?
“I would still be a teacher,” Bujacz said. “When people heard that they asked me, ‘There’s really nothing else?’ I love teaching. It’s my favorite thing to do. There’s no other job I’d like to do instead of it.”
While her journey with teaching has been long, Bujacz has finally landed back at Mac. After science teacher Jace Klein’s departure at the end of last semester, Bujacz has returned to the school where she once taught for eight years to fill his place.
I’m in the hallways and everyone’s like, ‘Wow, you’re so chipper,’ and I’m like, ‘I’m just so excited and happy to be here.
— Amy Bujacz
Amy Bujacz was born in a small town just outside of Ottowa, Ontario, Canada, and came to the University of Texas at Austin on an athletic scholarship for rowing. After getting into a car crash that didn’t allow her to row anymore, Bujacz turned all her focus into her pre-med studies. But after she got a C in chemistry, Bujacz didn’t know what she was going to do next. Luckily, her father, who was a principal, had a plan for her.
“I went home and my dad was like ‘Do you want to make $250 today?’ Bujacz said. “He walked me to a classroom and said, ‘This is Ms. Bujacz, and she’s going to be your teacher today.’ He gave me sub plans and shoved me into the classroom and left. I had a really good time, and I just started subbing after that. I was like, ‘This is what I want to do.’”
Bujacz then graduated from the UTeach program and started at McCallum in 2008.
“Because I was an immigrant and was on a work visa with AISD, I had a guaranteed job,” Bujacz said. “I went and interviewed at Travis, but it was far down south. So I came to McCallum, and it was closer to where I lived. I was very happy that I landed at McCallum.”
[Bujacz] brings happiness and excitement but also a feeling of, ‘Oh she’s got this.’
— science department head Nicole Sorto
After two years at the job, some students came to her interested in AP Biology, which at the time wasn’t offered at McCallum. Bujacz remembered her AP Biology teacher from high school — Mr. Martin — and how much he impacted her life, inspiring her to have the same influence on students of her own.
“Mr. Martin was this extraordinary science teacher who had us do all these cool labs, and he was just super engaging,” Bujacz said. “So I was super into science and that’s why I was a biology major. I want to be that teacher for kids.”
From there, Bujacz went to Gabe Reyes, the assistant principal at the time, who told her that she had to get 24 names of kids who wanted to take the class to get it added to the class option list. When enough students had signed up, McCallum began offering AP Biology again in 2011 — all thanks to Bujacz.
Bujacz taught AP Bio until she left in the spring of 2016 to focus on her family and take a break from teaching.
“Being a stay-at-home mom is hard, especially when you’re super social and outgoing, like me,” Bujacz said. “That’s why I teach high school, for the social aspect. I get to teach them but also interact with them. But we decided that as a family we didn’t need that money that would come from teaching and have to deal with all the sicknesses and time off of work. It was really sad leaving, but as I said, after having a kid my priorities just changed.”
Bujacz decided to come back in December 2019 to fill the role of the aquatic science teacher who had recently left, a position similar to the one she accepted this year.
“They were going to get rid of 178 kids who signed up for it and eliminate the class,” Bujacz said. “I didn’t want to do that to the kids, but I knew nothing about the ocean, fish tanks or fish. Teaching that class terrified me. But, I ended up learning a lot, and it was cool and a really good learning process for me too; however, I still had one or two sections of AP Bio that I taught by myself.”
Ms. Bujacz has been good about talking to us and making sure she teaches the way that is easiest for us.
— senior Dash Levy
Bujacz planned to reevaluate whether she would stay at the end of the year, but then COVID hit. So, she moved online with the kids and taught them until the end of 2020. For the next two years, on and off, she taught online for various AISD schools.
Later in the year, Jace Klein resigned from his teaching position in McCallum to work in a laboratory, which resulted in his AP Biology and anatomy and physiology classes being teacherless. When science department head Nicole Sorto, whom Bujacz has known since teaching at McCallum in 2008, asked if Bujacz wanted to come back to fill Klein’s spot, Bujacz knew immediately that she wanted to take it. The offer took her back to her AP Biology roots.
“That’s part of the reason that I took the job, is when they don’t have a permanent sub or there’s a new person every day, the learning stops,” Bujacz said. “So it’s nice to come in and be a consistent teacher for the rest of the year.”
Before coming in, Bujacz heard a lot about how McCallum had changed and evolved since her time teaching. But when she stepped foot in the school again, she realized that though some things had changed, the reason why she loves teaching at McCallum had not.
I do love that she puts a lot of thought into her work. For example, she provides a packet for us to take notes on instead of writing them in a notebook.
— senior Hannah Herrera
“They had me worried that it was going to be this whole new group of teenagers I didn’t know, and you guys are still just teenagers, which I love,” Bujacz said. “I’m a kid at heart. I mean some things have changed, but I love the inclusivity, I love the creativity and all the kids. You can tell it’s a fine arts school. There’s no place like it.”
Since returning to McCallum, Bujacz has taken over all the AP Biology sections except one, as well as the anatomy and physiology classes. Because Bujacz has been around the AP Bio program for so long, she has noticed some big differences over the years.
“Now they’ve gotten away from memorization and more overall understanding of the concepts, which makes it more manageable, so I like that change,” Bujacz said. “The kids are asking these wonderful big questions, and I’m like, ‘I’ve never thought of that.’ And so for me, I get to relearn it and learn new things, which I enjoy.”
While having his teacher leave during the middle of the year isn’t ideal, senior Dash Levy noticed how Bujacz’s experience is going to help prepare him for the AP test.
“She makes learning interactive, and since she started AP Bio at McCallum, she knows how to get us ready for the test,” Levy said. “Ms. Bujacz has been good about talking to us and making sure she teaches the way that is easiest for us. She sometimes asks how Klein did things and our opinion on it.”
Senior Hannah Herrera has also seen a difference between Klein’s and Bujacz’s way of teaching.
“I think a difference between the two is that Mr. Klein could easily make relationships with his students, and while Ms. Bujacz is trying to do the same, it’s just more difficult because Mr. Klein has been around longer,” Herrera said. “I do love that she puts a lot of thought into her work. For example, she provides a packet for us to take notes on instead of writing them in a notebook.”
Another thing that has partly stayed the same between Bujacz’s times at McCallum are the teachers: Andy Baxa, Elaine Bohls-Graham, Nicholas Martin, Paul Pew, Amy Brodbeck and Nicole Sorto. These familiar faces made her assimilation back to the school smoother.
When Sorto, who has been at McCallum for 31 years, saw how successful Bujacz was in bringing back the AP Biology class and how reliable she is, it was an easy choice to ask her to come back.
“She started our AP Bio program and had really good results with that,” Sorto said. “And in addition to that, if she sees something that needs to be done, she doesn’t even ask, she just does it.”
That’s why I teach high school, for the social aspect. I get to teach them but also interact with them.
— Amy Bujacz
Along with how successful she is on the academic side, Sorto also acknowledges how much wonderful energy Bujacz brings into the classroom and elicits from her students.
“She brings happiness and excitement but also a feeling of,’ Oh she’s got this,’” Sorto said. “That’s huge for me as department chair: knowing that she’s got this and I can trust her to do what’s in the best interest of the kids because ultimately, that’s the bottom line: the kids and she knows that. I was so excited to have her come back, and I’m trying to convince her to stay.”
Bujacz has signed on just till the end of the year, but if there’s still a position open in April or May, she may apply for it if it works for her and her family. While the future isn’t certain for Bujacz, she’s excited to get closer to the kids this year and be a positive light.
“I’m really excited to get to know the kids,” Bujacz said. “I’m in the hallways and everyone’s like, ‘Wow, you’re so chipper,’ and I’m like, ‘I’m just so excited and happy to be here.”
