The 2018-2019 school year has began and there are many new faces among the faculty here at Hawthorne High School. In an ongoing series of articles, The Clarion is proud to introduce Ms. Cruz, who is a Math teacher here at Hawthorne High School…

CLARION: Tell us a little about yourself.

Ms. Cruz: I’m a recent graduate of The College of New Jersey. I studied Math and secondary education. I did a part of my teaching in Thailand. I did the other part in Hamilton, New Jersey. In Thailand I taught Algebra 2, Geometry and a little bit of Chemistry. In New Jersey I taught seventh grade Math.

CLARION: What do you like to do when you’re not teaching?

Ms. Cruz: When I’m not teaching I like to play with my dog. I also love watching television shows.  I like creative things too…I go to pottery painting classes.

CLARION: Why did you choose this subject to teach?

Ms. Cruz: I think there is a beauty in mathematics that you don’t see in other subjects as much. It’s all numbers, a few letters, and symbols. When I was teaching in Thailand they were learning the same math that we are using here. It’s universal wherever you go.

CLARION: What part of teaching are you looking forward to the most?

Ms. Cruz: I enjoy getting to know my new students. I have younger siblings myself. One is in his senior year of high school. It’s weird seeing the similarities between what he’s learning and how he acts.

CLARION: What were you like as a student?

Ms. Cruz: I was definitely a procrastinator. I won’t lie about that one. I cared about my grades, but at the same time I knew I had other worries in school. Throughout all of high school I played field hockey and lacrosse. In my senior year I was captain of my field hockey team. I knew during the fall I had a lot of other things to worry about. Especially senior year having to apply to colleges. Over all I cared about my grades.

CLARION: Why did you want to teach in this district?

Ms. Cruz: I think I wanted to teach in this district because I saw a lot of similarities to where I went to high school. Hawthorne is a really small close-knit community. You guys had spirit week and I have never experienced anything like that before. I did not have that at my school.

CLARION: Tell us about your student teaching experience?

Ms Cruz: I was in Thailand for half of it. It was very hot and there was no air conditioning. What I learned  is that students over there are very similar to here. There wasn’t much of a difference. The kids were about the same age and learning the same subject.