Noyce Scholar Profile

Jeanette Hogan
Undergraduate major or graduate field of study: Mathematics
Subject area(s) and grade level teaching focus: Mathematics grades 9-12
Category of scholarship/fellowship:
Noyce Scholar
Name of Noyce institution:
Stonehill College
Current academic or teaching status:
Junior
School and school district:
Taunton High School; Taunton,MA Public Schools
Background:
I grew up in Braintree, Massachusetts with my parents and two older sisters. I graduated from Braintree High School in 2011, and am currently enrolled at Stonehill College as a Mathematics major with a minor in Secondary Education. I was fortunate enough to have some of the most outstanding teachers at Braintree High School, and it is thanks to these individuals that I am on the path towards being a teacher myself. I am also a member of Kappa Delta Pi and on the Relay for Life committee at Stonehill College.
Why do you want to teach:
A major part of my passion for teaching is my love of mathematics. For as long as I can remember, math has been favorite subject in school. As a math teacher, I hope to show students that math does not have to be a challenging and difficult subject, but can be interesting and engaging. At the very least, I hope to erase the fear of math that the majority of students have today. I can only envision myself in a career path that involves a classroom.
Describe a memorable teaching experience:
It is difficult to pin point just one teaching experience that stands out in my mind. From tutoring at risk teens and seeing them progress over the school year to substitute teaching and being involved in the classroom, there have been a plethora of stories that have impacted me. If I had to choose one experience, it would be working with one of the students at the tutor center over the past year, where I volunteer one night a week. He was the typical teenage boy that was “too cool for school.” At the end of the year the students were asked write thank you notes to the coordinator of the tutor center. This boy I had been working with over the year wrote in his note that he hopes someday he could be a tutor in the tutor center, to be a role model to someone like his tutor was to him. He had no idea that I would see this note, but knowing that I made a positive impact and inspired him was truly moving. This made me realize that even though some kids and students may not show how much you help them, you can make a different in their lives. I hope I can always carry this memory with me when I am in a classroom someday.
What does the Noyce program mean to you:
Receiving the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship will not only help financially it will also help make me the qualified mathematics teachers I aspire to be. Being a Noyce Scholar at Stonehill College will give me great opportunities for personal growth as a student and as a future teacher. Meeting monthly with my math mentor and my mentor from the education department, as well as the chance to attend nationwide conferences will help me develop skills I would not have the opportunity to explore otherwise. It is an absolute honor being a Noyce Scholar; and I look forward to teaching in a high needs school, so that I can help students who have potential but may not have the resources to realize it.