Full STEM ahead: Parkersburg Catholic’s Helena Teltscher will fuel her passion for problem solving, engineering at MIT | News, Sports, Jobs

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Helena Teltscher, who recently completed her senior year at Parkersburg Catholic High School, on a recent trip to Dubai and Saudi Arabia where she is at the Dubai Mall. Teltscher loves to be able to travel and experience different cultures.

PARKERSBURG — For Helena Teltscher, the world is for experiencing and figuring out solutions.

The 18-year-old graduating senior from Parkersburg Catholic High School was accepted into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, having a love of engineering and problem solving.

She talked about becoming involved in the Introduction to Engineering Class taught by Craig Casto who also taught her physics, two chemistry classes and a number of math classes. A number of her friends had also taken the Introduction to Engineering Class.

“I have always had a passion for engineering and problem solving,” Teltscher said. “I decided to join the class.”

In the class they were able to build mousetrap cars, do a bridge breaking competition and other various engineering activities.

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Graduating Parkersburg Catholic High School Senior Helena Teltscher enjoys playing Dungeons and Dragons, as well as participating in historical fantasy.

“I have always been a very hands-on learner,” Teltscher said. “We have built multiple engineering contraptions.

“That is what is appealing to me, being able to build things, use things and test them instead of just reading things engineers had done in the past and things like that.”

She will be starting at MIT in early September. She feels the school has an exceptional reputation in engineering instruction which appealed to her.

“I toured the campus two years ago and absolutely fell in love with it,” Teltscher said.

She is planning to go into civil and environmental engineering or architecture since even the designs of the buildings at MIT interest her.

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Helena Teltscher with AJ Ross and Adam Tucker, her teammates from Darkside Robotics, at the recent Pittsburgh Regional Competition.

“The look and feel of the campus appeal to me so much,” Teltscher said. “Of course, the extensive and extremely high ranking programs at MIT drew me in and the collaborative and problem-solving style of learning they have there is exactly what I was looking for.”

She is looking at going into a career dealing with large-scale sustainability and making that industry more efficient for companies while still making things better for the environment by cutting emissions and cutting down on waste. She is also considering working on designing buildings with the idea of reducing carbon footprint, cutting down on the waste production of the building and making it more efficient and environmentally friendly.

Teltscher also has an interest in robotics where she has competed with the local Darkside Robotics Team since she was in eighth grade. The robotics ties into a lot of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) subjects she was interested in learning about.

“When I saw what they were doing and was able to actually build robots, I actually fell in love with it,” she said. “That has been a huge part of my life for the last five years.”

Teltscher has served as head of the mechanical engineering team and more.

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Graduating Parkersburg Catholic High School Senior Helena Teltscher played Holly Hannover in PCHS’s recent production of “The Murder Mystery at the Murder Mystery.”

For the past six years, she has been involved with the Parkersburg Catholic drama productions with both minor and lead roles. Last year, she played “the Masked Musketeer” in their production of “The Masked Musketeer.”

“I like the chance to be able to put on a new face and act out a part that may have nothing to do with how I am and putting emotion and fun into going on stage in front of a whole bunch of people to perform something I have been working on since November or December,” Teltscher said. “It is also being able to perform with a group of friends and show off what we have worked on.”

She has also been involved in soccer, cross country and tennis. She has played soccer since she was 3 or 4 years old. She has been on the varsity soccer team since her freshman year and the captain for the last two years. She plays the positions of forward and striker.

“It is a sport I have loved since I was really little,” Teltscher said. “My family is from Germany so I have been in the soccer culture my entire life as well.

“I have played my entire life and been able to watch a lot of professional soccer. It is a huge part of my life.”

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Parkersburg Catholic High School Senior Helena Teltscher posed with her dog Zuko after a recent tennis match. She has two dogs named Zuko and Kolya.

Although she is not always on the winning team, she is able to remain positive, upbeat and able to have fun.

“I don’t easily get frustrated because I did bad in one game or the team didn’t win a game we thought we were going to win,” she said. “The sport is more important to me than the end result of one game.”

She has also been able to get out and perform as the school’s mascot, the Crusader, for the last three years for both football and basketball games as well as other school activities.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed because no one can see your face,” she said. “I can do things as the Crusader that I wouldn’t want to do in front of a group of people. It is giving people that joy of seeing and interacting with a fun character.”

She has worked for Discovery World for almost two years and has enjoyed teaching young kids about STEM in a fun environment.

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The family of graduating Parkersburg Catholic Senior Helena Teltscher spent time in New York City last Thanksgiving. Pictured are Helena, Markus Teltscher (father), Uta Hempel Teltscher (mother) and Paul Teltscher (brother).

“It is impactful to see kids from so many places and so many backgrounds and all come together and have fun learning about STEM and science,” she said.

Teltscher also has a love of travel.

“Since my family is from Germany, we often travel there to visit relatives,” she said. “I have been to Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.’

She did a foreign exchange program to Hamburg, Germany, her sophomore year. Her family have done multiple RV trips on both the east and west coast of the United States, and they regularly travel for holidays, including New York City at Thanksgiving. Since they don’t have any relatives in the U.S., they are able to go wherever they like. She recently took a trip to Dubai and Saudi Arabia while her brother is doing an exchange program with the King Faud University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia.

“Traveling has allowed me to have a very open perspective on people of different cultures and backgrounds,” Teltscher said. “I believe it is what makes me so eager to learn and explore.”

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Paul Teltscher and his sister Helena Teltscher during a trip to New York City with her family.

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Graduating Parkersburg Catholic High School Senior Helena Teltscher playing during a soccer game against Roane County this past season. She has played the positions of forward and striker.

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Helena Teltscher (right bottom corner) with friends from Parkersburg Catholic High School’s soccer team after a match. Starting with Teltscher and going clockwise are Alice Cochran, Grant Huffman, Luc Chazalet, Martin Prisc and Cole Miller.

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Graduating Parkersburg Catholic High School Senior Helena Teltscher, right, was a Parkersburg Catholic Homecoming Princess, and her friend Josie Augenstein, left, was homecoming queen this year.