As many of the seniors of Hingham High start to think about what life will look like after high school, it’s interesting to look at how many of the staff members of HHS found their way to being a teacher. Many of the teachers at HHS took an unusual path to becoming a teacher, so let’s take a look.

Dr. Rebecca Lewis
Dr. Lewis is a chemistry teacher at HHS, who has been teaching for fourteen years. Dr. Lewis was always very interested in teaching-related activities; finding joy in babysitting and tutoring during high school and college. That being said, she grew up thinking that she would become a doctor as she was often told by others that this would suit her strength in the sciences and desire to work with people. After graduating high school she followed the rigorous path towards medical school. When she reached medical school, however, she slowly began to realize that being a doctor was not her calling. Half-way through school she had to make the difficult decision that she would complete her medical degree even though she knew she would not become a doctor. She instead figured out a way to fit student-teaching into her already demanding medical school schedule so that she could enter the teaching field without having to do more schooling. This experience only cemented her belief that teaching was the right job for her. Her first year of teaching was spent in a small town in Rhode Island called Swansea and after that, she taught in Boston Public Schools for nine years. Eventually, she decided to find a job closer to home and she has now been teaching at Hingham for four years.

Ms. Monica Knoblock

Ms. Knoblock is a math teacher that teaches Level 2 Pre-Calculus and AP Calculus BC at Hingham High. After attending Silver Lake high school, where both Mr. Swanson and Mrs. Dwyer taught at the time, Ms. Knoblock attended Boston College. Though she studied math in college, her mother pushed her to take the MTELs (Massachusetts Test for Educator Licensure) during her senior year even though she already had a job lined up as an auditor at a public accounting firm. Ms. Knoblock notes that she “ended up being very grateful for taking her [mother’s] advice, since it only took a few years to realize [she] wasn’t suited for a desk job and didn’t have any desire to advance in the company.” After quitting her job, she moved back home and applied for teaching jobs. She ended up getting very lucky because she immediately found a job at Hingham High and she has been here for twelve years since then.

After noting to Dr. Lewis that many teachers at Hingham High only came to teaching after realizing they were unhappy with typical desk jobs, she said, “I feel like we disparage teachers in this country so a lot of people who are interested in teaching don’t consider it.” This idea is certainly something to be considered as many HHS students begin to think about career paths.

Want to hear stories from other teachers? Send requests to 23tbuckeridge@hinghamschools.org.