Bookends of 2 teaching careers
A family and consumer sciences (FCS) education major in her senior year, Amber Smith ’23 heard about a full-time teaching position at Delone Catholic, only 10 minutes from her house in Hanover, Pennsylvania. Because of the FCS teacher shortage, Delone wanted her to start immediately. While she really wanted the job, she hadn’t completed her student teaching or her degree yet.
Couldn’t she just student teach at Delone? Ideally, yes, but the school didn’t have a full-time FCS teacher there to serve as Smith’s cooperating teacher/supervisor.
Smith called Joan Hammond, a retired FCS teacher and a Messiah adjunct in textile arts. The two had a shared history together as Smith had taken Hammond’s textile arts course—during the pandemic.
“Sewing online is very difficult. Mrs. Hammond actually dropped off a sewing machine at my house, went extra mile to keep me enrolled. There was patience between us,” said Smith.
The mentorship continues
Was Hammond willing to come out of retirement to help out a member of the next generation of FCS teachers?
“I said, ‘If you could, if you would like to, even,’ and she’s been an amazing grace by saying yes,” said Smith.
Hammond didn’t waste any time thinking it over.
“I accepted because I have great respect and admiration for Amber. Lots of trust and respect, which made it easier to say yes. It’s the right thing to do, so that she’ll have a job. Lots of schools are dropping these programs because they don’t have teachers. We feel very supported by the school,” said Hammond.
Together, they teach in 80-minute periods, imparting life skills such as laundry, sewing, personal finance and nutrition. Since it’s a long class period, they take turns teaching and then reflect on the class together afterward.
“It’s not core SAT curriculum, but everyone will learn something they can use in their daily life. They’re practicing their core skills, as well, because they’re reading, writing, doing math,” explained Smith.
After she graduates in December, Smith will have a full-time position at Delone—all because she took the initiative to ask a Messiah contact to help her.
“Amber took the bull by horns, because this will be her classroom,” said Hammond. “She’s taken it upon herself to do initial planning, and we always communicate, balancing out each other’s strengths and learning from each other. I’d encourage anyone with experience to continue to be advocates for today’s youth, whether in teaching profession or in business. We have so many things to teach each other, by compromising and working together, we can make this world a much better place.”
— Anna Seip and Samantha Neal ’24