Southwest Louisiana native Sarah Walter built the Sowela Chemical Laboratory Technology Program from the ground up.

Through this degree path, students can earn an associate degree specifically designed to prepare them for employment in the petro-chemical laboratory environment as soon as they graduate.

Walter started out as the original instructor for the program, and took on the task of elevating its curriculum. Expanding the program took time and partnership with industry leaders. With the goal of creating the most efficient program, Walter took all of the information that she gathered from local industry and synthesized it into a comprehensive degree path.

“It was a lot of collaboration with local industries and what they felt a laboratory technician needed when they came into the workforce.”

After laying down the basic groundwork, she strived to enhance the program so that students would have advantage in the field after graduation.

“Once I was able to get those concepts down, I started focusing on some of the instruments that we were able to purchase for the program and build their knowledge base of those instruments.”

Students that enter the program are exposed to industry-grade instrumentation that give them an edge when they enter the workforce, in addition to learning the basics of the laboratory field and background knowledge that their future jobs will expect them to know.

“This way when they enter the workforce as a lab technician, they require less onboarding and already know most of the instrumentation basics. It also helps students to quickly catch on to new instruments.”

Walter currently serves as the Program Coordinator for the Chemical Laboratory Technology Education program, and she teaches higher level chemistry courses, the chemical laboratory technology education course and their respective labs.

She has also taught at McNeese State University and St. Louis Catholic High School.

Walter always had the desire to be a teacher, but she never felt called to any particular subject.

“I was never one of those standout students. I maintained a B or C average and no courses through middle or high school really was like, ‘Yes! This is what I’m meant to teach.’”

The coursework in the classes that she teaches have primary focuses on chemistry and math, but these are not subjects that came easily to her. However, they are subjects that she grew to love.

“I was in some remedial or study resource classes my freshman year out of high school to help me catch up with math… I found out that I understood math and science fairly well. When I got to take chemistry and physics,  I liked the combination of the sciences with math and that made me want to look into those subject areas more.”

While exploring mathematical and scientific fields of study, Walter earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in chemical and environmental sciences.

Her first experience with teaching was as a teaching assistant at McNeese, where she helped teach the Chemistry 101 Labs. During that time, she realized her perspective allowed her to efficiently teach others that were not naturally proficient at STEM subjects.

She went on to become one of the first undergraduates given the task of planning and teaching an undergraduate lab for a whole semester.

In both the classroom and the lab, Walter is fulfilled when her students reach a point of understanding.

“I enjoy the ‘lightbulb’ moment when the students have been struggling with a topic and all of a sudden you see that light bulb turn on and they understand.”

Providing students with the opportunity to experience instances of enlightenment is her ultimate goal.

“My philosophy is simply to make sure that I am instilling the knowledge that my students need to go out and be successful.”