lisa tetrault-zhe photos New staffers at North Hampton School include, from left, Melissa Brown, Melissa Kearney and Holly Brown.
"; aryZooms[imgCounter] = "javascript: NewWindow(870,625,window.document.location+zTemplate+'&img="+imgCounter+"')"; var ap = /AP/.test(""); var courtesy = /COURTESY/.test(""); var nfs = /NFS/.test(""); if (ap==true || courtesy==true || nfs==true || ""==""){ document.getElementById('purchasePhoto').style.display = "none"; } bolImages=true;NORTH HAMPTON ? For the three new staff members at North Hampton School, being able to make a difference with a student is all the motivation they need to consider it a job well done.
Holly Brown is a second-grade, special education case manager; Melissa Brown (no relation) returned to the school as a full-time seventh-grade math teacher; and Melissa Kearney has joined the staff as a third-grade, special education case manager.
"I love that North Hampton School values the whole child," Melissa Brown said. "I'd say the most rewarding part of my job is when I have a student that math isn't his (or her) favorite subject, and they come up and say, 'Now I get it.' I love it when they leave my classroom liking math a little bit more."
Brown is not new to NHS ? prior to taking a full-time math position, she spent four years as a part-time, eighth-grade math teacher.
The Tufts University graduate (she holds a bachelor's degree in economics) didn't start her career in education.
"I thought I wanted to be in the business world, so after I graduated college, I worked in investment banking in Boston," Brown said. "I enjoyed that, but I felt like I wasn't making a difference. So I quit, moved to New Hampshire and went back to school."
She went on to earn a master's degree in education, with a focus on middle school math, from the University of New Hampshire. She participated in the "Live, Learn and Teach" program at UNH, where she discovered she didn't want to teach high school but rather middle school.
"I love the age; it fits me. I'm a little sarcastic and they get it," Brown said. "In middle school, there's much more interaction with them. I not only see them for math class, but also social studies, homeroom and lunch duty. I feel I really get to know the students better than I would in high school."
Holly Brown agreed that she enjoys working with younger students.
"I've always enjoyed helping others," she said. "I focused on early childhood because I think you need to give them as much as you can at a younger age to make an impact. I loved school at an early age and I always looked up to my teachers. That's why I got into education."
Giving children special memories of their time at school is the most important part of her job, which involves working with the 40 second-grade students at NHS, identifying who might need some extra help.
"I love using readers' theater," Holly Brown said. "It works for children on all reading levels. I've found you can have one script that works for everyone. The best readers can have a bigger part, and the readers who are struggling can have a smaller part, but they all work together."
The theater program allows her to bring her background into the classroom ? she holds a bachelor's degree in theater education from UNH, as well as a master's degree in early childhood education, also from UNH.
Prior to joining NHS, she worked for five years as a special education case manager at Deerfield Community School.
For Kearney, there's a sense of familiarity in taking her new job as special education case manager for third grade ? she did an internship at NHS in 2008.
She recalled she actually surprised her parents when she opted not to study education in college.
"My whole family were teachers, both of my parents, my sister," Kearney said. "I wanted to do something different, so I studied film and television."
But a few years after earning her degree from Boston University and working in production, the thrill was gone.
"I wanted to work with kids, but I wasn't sure in what capacity, so I visited my mom, my dad and my sister at their schools to get a feel for it," Kearney said. "My dad was involved in special education, my mom and sister both third-grade teachers."
So Kearney headed to UNH for her master's degree in special education, and worked as a special education case manager for third grade at Pittsfield Elementary School prior to her job at NHS.
She said the best part is working with her students.
"The children are amazing," Kearney said. "They're so imaginative, so inquisitive. The teachers are phenomenal. We're all learning together."
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Source: http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20121009-NEWS-210090356
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