South Charlotte physics teacher takes education to Africa

Deb Semmler, 56, has been a physics and engineering teacher at East Mecklenburg High School for 18 years.

All three of her daughters graduated from East Meck, and two have followed their mother’s lead to become science teachers in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools system.

But this summer, Semmler says, she hopes to inspire science teachers farther from home.

Semmler is headed to Rwanda for three weeks to teach more than 1,000 high school teachers and female students through purpose-based science projects.

The trip is an initiative organized by Charlotte-based nonprofit Mothering Across Continents. Founder Patricia Shafer, 45, said she was inspired by a service trip to create the nonprofit to support educational projects in under-served and impoverished communities.