Photo+courtesy+of+Gaelvision.

Photo courtesy of Gaelvision.

About Mrs. Tom

Mrs. Tom, our new engineering teacher, is married and has 3 kids. Her biggest fear is something happening to her loved ones. She didn’t always want to be a teacher. When she was younger, she wanted to be an Engineer, which she achieved before becoming a teacher. Mrs. Tom went to college at Stevens Institute of Technology, which is a very hard school to get accepted to. While here, she received a Master’s (MBA) in Mechanical Engineering. I asked Mrs. Tom what her favorite thing about Engineering was, and she told me that her favorite thing is figuring out how things work, how they go together and have different tasks that they perform from assembling the pieces together.

Teaching Career

Before starting at RHS, she was a teacher and a substitute at Lincoln/Roosevelt and Eisenhower Middle School. She has been teaching for 9 years, and if you include her time as a substitute, she has been teaching for 11 years. When I asked Mrs. Tom what her favorite thing about teaching is she replied with, “coming up with different ways to present material to my students.” I asked her what her favorite thing about RHS is so far, to which she responded, “My favorite thing about RHS is definitely the students.”

Difficulties of COVID

When I asked Mrs. Tom what was different this year compared to her prior years of teaching. Her response was “This year, we have an entirely different curriculum and different subjects and material. And since there’s a mix of in-person and all virtual students, she has to adjust her teaching style.” She also said that she isn’t used to seeing her former students with this much facial hair. She believes that the biggest challenge for teachers/teaching this year is adapting to all the changes, including a different schedule, going into Phase II, etc. She explained how teachers have to be more flexible now since everything is constantly changing, as we continue to switch between virtual and in-person.

Fun Facts

  • Her favorite food is ice cream
  • Her favorite color is blue because she finds it calming
  • Mrs. Tom LOVES to be outdoors and ski
  • Her biggest fears are drowning or something happening to her family