“Let’s go MAVS,” are the first three words that come to mind when Ms. Helmus was asked about MHS, highlighting how strong of a community there is within this school.
After spending the past 11 years as a Spanish teacher here at Mead High School, she is looking forward to teaching Spanish and Art at Altona Middle School next year!
One of the biggest things she’s going to miss are the relationships she’s developed with her students and co-workers throughout the years, “when I think back on my time, like [there were] all of these people I cared about and was invested in their life. I also have a lot of good memories with various colleagues.”
Ms. Helmus adds how working with young students has helped shape her experience as a teacher, explaining that kids are “so genuine and honest.” While adults come with a pretense from experiences throughout their life, children are still full of life and willing to learn.
She describes that high school students are especially fun to teach because of their cleverness and ability to be sarcastic. These characteristics remind Ms. Helmus that she was “once idealistic and honest and true and open to new experiences [as] a kid.”
One of the most exciting things about teaching middle school students is the hope that their enthusiasm and energy will be a refreshing restart after teaching high school for so long. “I [hope] that I can jumpstart their love for learning the language, and right off the bat it will be something they continue throughout high school.”
While being a teacher, Ms. Helmus’s main goal is to teach students just how complex a language is, as well as, the cultures which surround it. She wants to inspire students to continue language and use it in their lives. “There’s a place for people who speak both languages in the sense that you can be a bridge between two otherwise really disparate, separated communities.”
Looking forward to teaching Art along with Spanish, Ms. Helmus is excited to explore her artistic side within the classroom, as she already sells homemade artwork on her Etsy page.
While it may be challenging as she’s never taught Art before, she feels it’s important to challenge yourself throughout life to grow as a person. She sells mostly watercolor, but will be teaching the digital art class at the middle school.
“I have a lot of interests. I like to have a lot of random hobbies and things that I do,” she adds. One of Ms. Helmus’s passions is culture and language, and says she hopes to be able to immerse her children in the language through opportunities abroad.
She also agrees that students taking high school Spanish right now should absolutely find opportunities to study abroad, because that when being truly within the language can happen. There’s many opportunities for young adults that don’t often occur that older students get, meaning taking this window of opportunity can “change your life, like it changed my life.”
Ms. Helmus is taking her own advice she offers to students by moving forward with her career in teaching, and despite the uncertainties, she’s excited to find new opportunities to teach students the value of other cultures within language and Art.
While we’re sad to see her go, we’re enthusiastic to see how she continues to inspire her future students!
