From the desk to the front board, class of 2019 graduate Ms. Swanson has experienced Lincoln High School from both sides of the classroom. After being hired full-time at Lincoln this summer, she finally gets to live out her childhood dreams.
Wanting to be a teacher from an early age, Ms. Swanson went to the University of Rhode Island to teach, and when she graduated, she was hired as a long-term substitute English teacher at Lincoln High School to fill in for Ms. Monte who was on leave for the 2023-2024 school year.
“I was sad leaving [college] but I actually got really lucky because a couple weeks before the school year started, Lincoln High School opened up which was always my dream,” she said. “I realized that it’s rare that your old high school would open up or what jobs would open up, so I got lucky that I was able to come back here, and it just happened to be 2-3 weeks before the school year started.”
One aspect of teaching at LHS that Ms. Swanson has had to adjust to is working with many of her old teachers.
“At first, the craziest part was having to call them by their first name like it still almost feels weird in a way, so that was the toughest thing, calling them by their first name still sometimes feels weird,” she said.
Ms. Swanson is very happy to be a part of the English department.
“They’ve been super welcoming and super helpful, especially the English Department and everyone’s so nice,” she said.
Ms. Swanson’s energy and positive attitude has been a welcome addition to the English department.
“Ms. Swanson was the best candidate for the job, because she’s truly a Lincoln Lion,” said English Department Head Mr. Schofield. “She’s a product of Lincoln High School and she’s coming back to give back to the community. She’s very into everything we do at Lincoln high School. She’s great in the classroom. She’s great, volunteering with cheerleading. She does a lot so she’s a great addition. I’m happy to have her back.”
English teacher Mrs. Pavao added, ” she has inspiring creative ideas. She is a team player and just a joy to work with. I’m so grateful she joined our department.”
This year Ms. Swanson can be found in her new beautifully decorated room in the D-Wing, an improvement over being a traveling teacher during her first year. Last year Ms. Swanson did not have her room because she was a long-term sub, which meant having to push around a cart with all her teaching essentials and moving classrooms. The teacher’s room in C-Wing was her prep area where she would be if she had no class that period. She was relieved to have her room this year because she feels more comfortable and she is glad that she can customize it and make it her own.
“Yeah having my own room makes all the difference,” she said. “It’s so nice because I get to make it my own and personalize it, last year I was kinda running all around the school, just getting my feet wet and you know learning everything for the first time, and I’m still learning as I go but I definitely feel a little bit more comfortable now that I have my own and that I’ve done it one time around now so each year it’ll get better and better, but this year I’m definitely feeling more comfortable.”
