Letting the Cat Out of the Bag

I’ve had a secret, and today’s the day I can finally share it with the world.

I’ve accepted a position at St. Petersburg High School for the 2019-2020 school year. In about a month, I’ll be a Green Devil.

I’m grateful to Middleton High School for all of the learning experiences that have brought me to this point. MHS hired me when I had no high school teaching experience and provided me an environment to grow. Over the four years I worked there, I had a number of extremely supportive mentors who helped me develop my style of teaching so I can best help my students. I’m still not perfect, but I’m grateful for their ideas and support.

I will also miss so many of my colleagues at MHS. There are so many faculty and staff that are amazing there. I’ll miss my relationships with them and also with the students I’ve had in class. I wish each and every person health and happiness in their lives.

But you can miss one thing while being supremely excited for another. And I’m extremely excited about my new position for a number of reasons. Not least of all, I’ll be able to bike to work! The school is only ~2.5 miles from my apartment! Which also means no 50-mile roundtrip, daily commute, with me nearly falling asleep at the wheel on the way home across the Howard Franklin Bridge. (Not to mention the gasoline expenses that accompany this commute.)

I’m also excited to be working in a newly renovated, historic building. I haven’t seen my room yet, but it was still being renovated at the time of my interview. It’ll be nice to teach in a lab with working sinks!

I’m also glad to be able to give back to my direct community. Philosophically I could teach anywhere. Teaching is a truly noble profession, and no matter where you teach you are helping kids in some fashion. But it will be nice to teach people I have a chance to run into in real life. It will be nice to work with adults I might run into in real life. I’m glad to be building my St. Pete community.

I’m also looking forward to the opportunity to grow as a teacher. I’ll be teaching chemistry and biology this year, instead of just biology. I’m looking forward to putting a biology spin on those chemistry topics. That’s when chemistry really started making sense to me in college, once I had some biology to roll it into.

There’s a lot of change going on in my life, both spiritually and physically. And they are good changes. I feel like I’m back in the flow again. I feel like I’m in a place where I can connect with my truest self. I’m excited for what the future holds!