The other day I had the pleasure of interviewing Ms. Eilinger, a new teacher at BT this year. She was kind enough to share some interesting things about herself with me.
Ms. Eilinger has been teaching math for six years, and she started her teaching journey in Milwaukee. From a very young age, she knew that she loved math and wanted to pursue a career in the field. When she was in school, she was placed in a higher-level math class, but because it did not fit in her schedule, she had to take the lower-level course. However, her teacher still found ways to challenge her. She would often stay after school to be taught more rigorous material and then teach her classmates the lesson during class the following day. As a student, she was very independent and faced the same challenges that many of us do now, including finding the internal drive to do well for herself, not just for her parents. Like many of us at BT, she didn’t like asking others for help or admitting that she needed it, rather preferring to try and figure it out herself.
Ms. Eilinger has always had a passion for helping others who need it and had a space where students were welcome to unload any issues or problems they were having. That is one of the reasons she offers so many extra help sessions to students, so that they always have easy access to help without having to ask for it or even just a place to talk about their day. Ms. Eilinger is not only an amazing teacher, but she is also a great school mom to students who need one. While teaching in Milwaukee, the school had an advisory club which she took part in, and she picked up a group of sixteen freshman boys and acted as a mother figure to them. If they needed anything school or personal related, someone to talk to about any problems they were having, a teacher to help them with their school work, or even just a cheerleader to motivate them, she was there for them. She really cares about the students’ well-being and their lives as a whole, not just when they are in school, which is a big part of what makes her not only an amazing teacher, but also an amazing person in general.
When asked about her Zoom experience so far, Ms. Eilinger said that aside from it being a little bit weird since she can’t walk around the classroom and see how students are doing, it has been good. Teaching wise, she feels that it hasn’t been that different from being physically in class, because although there is a curriculum that she has to follow, she teaches from her personality. She still finds ways to get students engaged and excited to learn math. Her favorite part of teaching is when the light bulb finally goes off inside a student’s head, and they figure out what the answer is. She likes being a part of that process, making students feel good about themselves and reassuring them that they shouldn’t doubt their abilities.
Ms. Eilinger really enjoys teaching at Bergen Tech, and one of the reasons is that she has found there are many similar personality traits she shares with her students. The thing that she dislikes the most about being a teacher is when things that are out of her control affect her teaching. One example is, as I mentioned earlier, that there is a curriculum that teachers need to follow, and a certain time frame within which they have to do so. She feels that sometimes she has to move on too quickly in order to stick with the curriculum, even when she feels that her students aren’t ready yet or don’t completely understand the material.
Over the summer, Ms. Eilinger enjoys reading and hanging out with her dog and family. She also loves playing video games, and her favorite game is Breath of the Wild on her Nintendo. Overall, Ms. Eilinger is a really cool teacher with an amazing personality, and I am very glad that I got to meet her, even if it was over zoom. If you get lucky enough to have her in the future, a lot of people may be jealous of you, I know I would be.
Written by Emma Murado
