Many new teachers joined Shore Regional’s staff this year, one of them is Ms. O’Connor, who joins the Math Department. O’Connor, who went to Ocean County College and Georgian Court University, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in math and education. 

“I decided to become a teacher because when I was in college, one of my friends was struggling and was having a really hard time in math, so I decided to help her and realized that what I wanted to do was teach and help students understand [these concepts],” O’Connor stated in her interview. She decided to start working at Shore Regional because she liked the school’s schedule and she had always heard great things about the school.  

O’Connor tries to get to school early to start the day off with her “To-Do” list. She says that having a list is very important because she knows what she has to do throughout the day. Separating everything by when they have to be done and how urgent they are- being organized is very important to Ms. O’Connor. In teaching, she tries to incorporate the real world into her lessons whenever she can, like adding art into math. “Ms. O’Connor is such a nice person and she always helps people who have a hard time and explains everything thoroughly,” said sophomore Giovanni Rodriguez.

When asked where she sees herself in five years, she responded: “Hopefully still in a Shore Regional classroom, and hopefully getting my master’s degree.” She likes to know what her students are interested in and involved in, and also know they’re strengths so she knows how much to challenge them. “What you put into something you get out of it. If you go into something with a bad attitude you won’t get anything good from it” says O’Connor.