This #TBT series is dedicated to teachers and is designed to help students relate to and understand teachers at THS and who they were “back then”. This series will feature interviews with teachers in each edition of the Terryville Newspaper. Enjoy!
Mrs. Jessica Hurd
Are you proud of who you were in high school?
I think we always have small regrets; but overall, I was a good student, I was an athlete, I was involved in the community and within the school, so I was what I want to be.
What clubs and/or sports did you do in high school? Did they change you socially or academically?
My biggest thing was swimming: I was on the varsity swim team, and I swam year-round on club teams [outside of school]as well. I was also the captain of the varsity swim team, so that developed leadership skills. I was in FBLA and was president my senior year. We didn’t have Leo Club at the time, but we had a community service club, and I was in [that].
Are you still friends with people from high school?
[I’m friends with] a handful of girls who I still see around town. My best friend since 6th grade, we had kids together (we had a boy in the same year, and a girl 5 weeks apart )- and I married my high school sweetheart.
How did high school shape you socially and academically?
We had block scheduling, so we had 4 classes a semester, and I think that actually prepared me for college. I had more time in class to work and study, so I think my high school really prepared [me] for being a college student.
Have schools and the stereotype around education changed since you were in high school? (stress, grades, attitude toward education) Do you see these changes, if any, affecting youth? In a positive or negative light, why?
Not too much- I’m only 12 years removed from high school, which in the grand scheme of things is not that big- but back then, only college-bound students took the ACT or SAT. Now it’s equal opportunity, everyone can take the SAT.
If you could change one thing about your high school experience, what would it be? ( like join any clubs, sports, attitude, friend groups?)
I wish I didn’t care so much about social status, and I was just nicer to everyone.
Did you take AP classes? Do you think students should stress about them the way they do today?
I don’t think AP was as high-up as an academic [requirement]. I took what was called “UCONN prep classes”, and I got college credit for a stats class. But like I said, the way we did block scheduling, I took seven math classes in high school… so I knew what I wanted to do, and I was able to start achieving those goals in high school.
Mrs. Sarah Dinnan
If you compare yourself to your high school self, what would you say is most different about yourself? Are you happy with this change?
I would say that I’m definitely calmer now- I was very energetic, which I’m sure is hard to believe. I am happy with the change!
Did you want to work in education when you were in school?
Yes, ever since I was little. I used to play school when I was young with my sister and would practice “correcting papers”.
Are you proud of who you were in high school?
Absolutely. I was lucky enough to be involved with a lot of clubs and activities, so I was able to grow as a person and figure out what I liked and didn’t like. This helped shape me as a person and helped me understand myself.
What clubs and/or sports did you do in high school? Did they change you socially or academically?
I was very involved in school. For sport, I played lacrosse and did indoor track one season. I was in marching band for all four years of my high school career, and I was also in the tech crew for drama club for a few years. This was fun socially, but I had to figure out fast how to balance my schoolwork and my after school activities, as well as my outside life.
Are you still friends with people from high school?
Definitely- one of my current best friends has been my friend since 2nd grade. Other than that, I have a few friends I still hang out with.
If you could change one thing about your high school experience, what would it be? ( like join any clubs, sports, attitude, friend groups?)
I’m still mad about this- I would have volunteered to compete in a French-poetry reading competition. I was too scared to speak out loud in another language in front of people, so I didn’t even enter the competition. I still think I would have done better than the girl who they picked to compete.
What was your favorite subject outside of your teaching degree and why?
Languages: I wanted to be a French teacher before I was an English teacher, and I also took Spanish and Irish Gaelic in college.
Mrs. Karen Robillard
If you compare yourself to your high school self, what would you say is most different about yourself? Are you happy with this change?
I’m happy with the change, but it’s not necessarily because I was bad, or specifically good at either stage. I think that the difference between ‘me’ and high school and the ‘me’ now is that in high school I had more free time to enjoy a lot of creative activities, I used to draw a lot, I used to write a lot of poetry, I definitely enjoyed fashion design and I had a lot of creative endeavors and now in the land of work, I tend to focus more on my job and the things that I need to do for my home and unfortunately I have less time to pursue my creative interests.
Did you want to work in education when you were in school?
No, I did not because I felt that teachers ended up taking the fun out of things and I didn’t want to do something that involved taking the fun out of things, but what happened actually through helping people at my school and side jobs that I had as an adult everyone basically said you should be a teacher, you’re really patient and so I begrudgingly admitted after a while that it actually was something that I was good at and if I was in control of the assignments and if I was in control of my students I could actually make this fun and so my perspective changed.
Are you proud of who you were in high school?
I’m very proud of who I was in high school. I think I was a really good happy medium of having a lot of fun yet also making really good choices. I had a lot of fun, I kept up on my school work, I got really good marks in school but at the same time I wasn’t the kind of person who just focused on studies, I was very social, I had a lot of good friends, I had a lot of really good experiences, I went to really good concerts, read really good books in my spare time, I saw a lot of people I made sure to spend my weekends with people I cared about. I didn’t have a very good home life and so all of the awesome things I did in school, like the good marks that I got in school and all of the friends I made in school, school was actually where I was the happiest, and so yes I am very proud of myself, I did a lot for someone who came from a negative situation.
What clubs and/or sports did you do in high school? Did they change you socially or academically?
I did no sports, but for clubs, I was part of the literary magazine, the creative writing club, I was part of Choir, I was part of student council, and I was a part of Art Club. I think they made me a better student because in general, I think what they did is they fostered my creative thinking so I might have been stagnant and I might not have created as much artistically or in terms of my creative writing, however being apart of all those clubs I think what it did was inspire me to create more and more and more which helped me develop as an artist.
Are you still friends with people from high school?
Yes, I am actually, I’m friends with several people from high school still. High school and college produced some lifelong friendships.
Have schools and the stereotype around education changed since you were in high school? (stress, grades, attitude toward education) Do you see these changes, if any, affecting youth? In a positive or negative light, why?
I don’t think that students have so much changed, I think students stress levels are the same, I know when I was in school everyone was incredibly stressed and bogged down by lots of work, and now students feel the exact same way. However, I do think adults perspectives regarding education have changed. When I was in high school, everything was about memorization, you had to remember exactly what happened in a novel, remember exactly what happened in history, you had to remember all of your formulas for chemistry and all of your formulas for math class. Now, there’s more focus on analysis, instead of people wanting you to memorize what happened, people want you to understand now why it’s important, what happened because of it, what are the effects of the thing that happened in history, how can you use this formula that we’re providing you. I think adults have changed their perspective regarding what’s important because like I said when I was in school what you know and now the focus is [on] what can you do with what you know.
If you could change one thing about your high school experience, what would it be? ( like join any clubs, sports, attitude, friend groups?)
I think the thing that I would change is I would have taken more AP classes because I was so focused on getting straight A’s that there were some classes because of the work level I dipped down to a B and just knowing that was my grade absolutely terrified me and , unfortunately,y dropped out of an AP class a few weeks in and although I do strongly recommend that people do what is best for them, I personally in reflection I know I could have handled that course and I think sometimes when I look back on my high school career I’m frustrated that I didn’t push myself more academically, I should have focused more on becoming a better reader and writer even more so then I already was then focusing on just having perfect scores on a report card.
Did you take AP classes? Do you think students should stress about them the way they do today?
Yes I did, and I think that there is something that I call healthy stress, I don’t think that people should just not care at all. I think when you don’t care at all, you don’t become better, you don’t reflect, you don’t improve in your methods. However, I do think there is something where you can care too much, where you just obsess over what Powerschool says, [or] you obsess over getting the perfect score to get approval of peers and your parents, and I believe there is a happy medium- where someone can worry about doing their best and someone can hope to do their best but someone can also just accept how they did. So if you are a B or a C student but you’re still passing and getting something out of the course, then I think you should stay and get the college experience through high school.
What was your favorite subject outside of your teaching degree and why?
My favorite subjects were math and art, and I know they’re complete opposites but what I loved about math is that I was very good at it and it involved logical thinking, and I was always a very good logical thinker and so i excelled at math and I loved art just because I love color, I love design, I love anything creative and so art was a creative outlet for me.
Interviews conducted and written by Olivia Gilbert and Taylor Greenwood