Flat land, interminable heat, thick accents, and southern living. All these thing lead back to one common denominator: Texas. 1,742.3 Miles, (26 hours) away from Taylor Ham-loving, cold wintering, and notorious summer having New Jersey. What these two share is not something you can replicate or imitate because she’s one of a kind and unique to herself: Ms. Moghadamniya, also referred to as Ms. Niya.
Ms. Niya is new to the staff here at Roxbury High School, teaching grades 10 and 12 English—12th grade being in the American Horror style. She’s a bright and cheerful soul, her attitude light and always accompanied by a positive energy. I had the pleasure of speaking to Ms. Niya one-on-one to learn not only about her being a new teacher at Roxbury but also about herself.
Starting from the beginning of her story, Ms. Niya was able to share where she was originally from before coming to New Jersey, “I moved here from Texas but I’m from all over the south.” In addition, she also shared why she came up North and insight about why she stayed: “I moved to Jersey for work for my family and I stayed here because my children were born here, so now I’m a Jersey girl by association.” The Jersey spirit has clearly made its way to Ms. Niya, and we’ve made her one of our own.
Moving schools can be hard, but also full of new opportunities with new memories to unfold. Here are Ms. Niya’s thoughts on teaching specifically in Roxbury: “I love teaching in Roxbury a lot, my kids are in the district and I already go to all the stuff in town so, to me, it’s perfect being here because I feel like I’m a part of the community and a part of the school district. And I’m a parent here, so I like it and it’s my favorite place I’ve ever taught.” It’s nice to see she already loves our community and feels welcomed inside of it.
Additionally, New Jersey itself has many things to offer and is easy to travel through. Everyone has their favorite qualities about where they live and Ms. Niya has formed her own over her time here. “My favorite part about living in New Jersey is that everything is really easy to get to so you can do a day trip to the beach, you can go to the city, you can go to PA, and you can go Boston, you can go to DC.” This east coast state is near many fun activities and trips people love and appreciate.
Our new staff member has been teaching before Roxbury; she’s taught for eight years prior. In her own words, she says, “I love teaching.” She currently teaches high schoolers and has for the majority of her time teaching, apart from one year teaching in middle school. I was also able to ask her what her favorite part about teaching high school was; “I like that you guys understand sarcasm and you’re also young adults, so the things we can talk about in class are a lot more complex and mature than the things you could do in a younger class,” she said.
Teachers aren’t always just so wrapped up in school and have their own hobbies and favorite things they do in their spare time, and Ms. Niya is no exception. She didn’t hold back when sharing her hobbies, “I like to sing, I like to take pictures and to do photography, I love spending time with my friends and exploring new restaurants, I love taking road trips and traveling; it’s my favorite. I love traveling anywhere. If I have a weekend off, I’m always trying to go somewhere.” All of these sound like fun ways to spend your time away from the classroom!
In addition, she also shared some final fun facts about herself, “My favorite color is black, all I ever wear is black and I’m trying to venture into color.” Her favorite foods include Tex-Mex, a type of southern cuisine consisting of a mixture of Mexican and Southern American foods and barbeque. Lastly, “My favorite genre of movie and or book is gonna be suspense and horror, that’s why I teach it.” This leads us back to the beginning of her being at Roxbury High School to teach English.
In closing, our school is excited to welcome Ms. Moghadamniya (Niya) to our staff and as a member of our community. We wish her nothing but the best in the continuation of her teaching career and are eager to see her develop as a Roxbury Gael.
