For new Wiscasset Middle School science teacher Dawn Jones, one journey has come full-circle.

After stops in the foothills of Colorado and Southern New Hampshire, Jones has made her way back to Wiscasset to teach in the building where she spent eight years as a student.

“I grew up here,” she said. “My family's lived here for generations. I've lived away from here for the last 20 years, but I was always looking to come home.”

After several years and several moves, things lined up, Jones said.

“Our kids grew up and are off at college, we found a saltwater farm in Cushing and my dream job opened up,” she said.

When Jones says dream job, she means dream job: Wiscasset Middle School might have changed since she was a student, but she said the place was always in her mind.

When Jones was a student at the middle school, it encompassed kindergarten through eighth grade. Despite having taught fifth grade science and language arts, this year Jones said she will be focused solely on passing on her love of science to her students.

“It's such a gift to be back — it means so much to me to be able to leave, then come back and contribute to the school,” she said. “I am happy to be back.”

In science, there’s room for math, history and language arts in the curriculum, Jones said.

“I believe kids should build their own understanding and take what they learn as far as they can go,” she said. “With science, it's so much hands-on: you have to ask questions, you have to analyze everything. I believe that other subjects can be improved with science.

“It's a subject that really engages students, and it helps them understand that there is a process.”

Jones took the long road to becoming a teacher. She originally studied journalism, and her writing focused on science, namely biology. She then moved onto marketing, where she worked for companies such as Kraft Foods, and others.

Soon thereafter, Jones said she and her husband started Kid Territory.

“My husband and I started our own business that focused on children's furnishings,” she said. “We moved back to New Hampshire at that point, and at that time we had kids in upper elementary school.”

That's when her thinking changed, said Jones.

“It became apparent how important teaching is, and I decided it was something I wanted to be involved with,” she said. “I became certified, taught in New Hampshire and Colorado, and now I'm back in Maine.”