Mrs. Di Geronimo is our wonderful library media specialist.
Di Geronimo taught a creative writing class in West Milford High School and she was inspired to start some writing of her own. While Mrs. Di Geronimo was on maternity leave she had the realization that she could take care of her children and sell her writing. At first she started off independently writing for different magazines and newspapers about parenting. Mrs Di Geronimo was soon offered a job to write a monthly column for Children’s Magazine. It was during this time she started writing non-fiction books; she has written over 50 of them.
After 25 years, Di Geronimo missed the social aspect of working. So she turned back to teaching. In 2012 Mrs. Di Geronimo taught Junior English (English III) and Journalism here at Hawthorne High School. She was also a part time professor at William Paterson University giving lectures on book and magazine editing. While working at HHS Di Geronimo started writing fiction books.
Mrs. Di Geronimo still writes today. In fact one of her most recent books is called “Before I Forget”.
In December 2023 Mrs. Di Geronimo was nominated and won the award for the New Jersey School Board Association’s Unsung Superhero in Education/Library Media Specialist category. She was nominated by the Hawthorne Public Schools District.
10 Questions with Mrs. Di Geronimo
The Clarion: What/who encouraged you to work in education?
Di Geronimo: “I had a son while I was in college and wanted to be a good parent and education would give me the opportunity to do that.”
The Clarion: When you decided to pursue a career in education, what was the biggest challenge you faced?
Di Geronimo: “The challenge revolved around balancing work and home life, I had a three year old son that I needed to take care of.”
The Clarion: Were you able to overcome that challenge?
Di Geronimo: “Yes, absolutely!”
The Clarion: Was there someone you had to lean on for support? Who was that person? What did they do to help?
Di Geronimo: “My family was always there to support me and pick up the pieces.”
The Clarion: When you were a little girl where did you see yourself?
Di Geronimo: “I grew up wanting to be a nurse, because my mother was a nurse. I had nurse toys, nurse costumes, etc.”
The Clarion: Have you achieved what you wanted?
Di Geronimo: (with a laugh): “No”
The Clarion: Who was your all time hero?
Di Geronimo: “Mother Theresa, I guess I always thought it was cool we had the same name.”
The Clarion: What do you like to do in your free time?
Di Geronimo: “In my free time I like to play tennis, run and read.”
The Clarion: Is there anything you wish you could do that you can’t?
Di Geronimo: “I wish I could fly, that’s why I like to swim…when you swim there’s this freedom of movement and to me that’s like flying.”
The Clarion: What is a piece of advice you would give to an aspiring writer?
Di Geronimo: “Read, read some more, and write. People always ask me how to write a book and the answer is to just do it.”