There’s no shortage of excellent teachers here at Hillsborough High School. From calculus to arts and crafts to physics or even French, HHS is employed with one of the best staffs in New Jersey. But how can a teacher get started either at HHS or in general?

This semester, the high school has three student teachers, all college students from TCNJ. Each of them is a perfect example of how hard work and determination can get you where you want to be. As with all fields, you have to start somewhere and HHS is more than accommodating with new teachers and wants to make sure that everyone feels welcome.

Evan Patrick is currently working with history teacher Scott Kallens. Patrick’s inspiration to teach came from his own teachers when he attended school in Ewing.  “As a child growing up, knowing that someone cares about you and takes an interest in who you are as a person is critical as we start to understand the world in which we live and our role in it,” Patrick said. “I hope to have that same effect on my students as well.”

Patrick chose to teach history because he enjoys studying people who have lived before him. “Beyond that, at least to me, history is an ever-unfolding, human drama which always excites,” Patrick said. Patrick understands that not everyone will go on to study history in college, but hopes that his students will leave his class having taken something from it.

Math teacher Stephen Raff is currently working with student teacher Joseph Daly, a student in his last semester as a mathematics secondary education major. Daly has known his whole life that he wanted to be a teacher. “When I was growing up I thought teachers were so cool because they were the ones in charge of teaching me things I never knew,” Daly said. “As I got older I had multiple teachers who had a big influence in my life.”

Daly gravitated towards math in high school when many of his friends struggled with the subject and needed his help. “I always enjoyed helping them and showing them different ways to solve problems that made it easier for them to understand the material,” Daly said.

“As a math teacher, I hope my students walk out of my classroom at the end of each year feeling like they didn’t just memorize a bunch of formulas,” Daly said. “…But they understand the reasoning and the process behind the math they have learned.”

Candace Kellner is working closely with English teacher Kenneth Shindle this year. “I chose English because of all of the subjects, I feel that English is the most applicable in the ‘real world,'” Kellner said. “The themes taught and the skills cultivated in an English classroom can help students navigate their own lives and to make informed decisions as they assume a more active role in society in their adult lives.”

Kellner’s sophomore year English teacher had a real impact on her life. Her experience in that classroom resonated with her and is what made her want to be a teacher.

Like Patrick and Daly, Kellner hopes to have an impact on her students. “I want them to leave my classroom not only with skills that will help them with their futures, whether they pursue a higher education or a career, but with skills that will help them navigate their lives,” Kellner said. “These sort of skills are often overlooked by teachers, who are caught up in curriculum and all of the standards put forth by the state.”