Kristen Fabick's Blog
life after mission year?!??! (milton hershey school) / Apr 14, 09:55 AM
i know i know…its only april. mission year goes until august 5th. but in my world that means its definitely time to start figuring out what lies ahead for my life after mission year.
i have looked into several options. i have considered staying in camden and teaching at the urban promise academy (as their second math teacher) to give them a little greater diversity in the courses they can offer. the biggest downfall with this plan is that i would probably have to have a second job or find some additional work that i can pick up on the weekends (such as tutoring for suburban students or for local college students) in order to build some savings. also, the school is young and small and, though it offers great support, they are limited in their resources and in how they can help me as a first-year teacher.
the other big opportunity i have looked into is teaching at the milton hershey school (mhs) in hershey, pennsylvania. i first heard about hershey at a teaching job fair in huntsville, al (while i was in college) about a year ago. since then, i have been thoroughly interested in this school and its teaching philosophy. mhs is a boarding school for underprivileged (low-income) students in grades pre-k through 12. currently, the high school has about 700 students and they are trying to grow to 1000 before they simply try to maintain their size. as a result of such growth, there are 3 new math teaching positions available for next school year.
i saw these positions online and thought…oh…cool…ill fill out an application and see if anything happens. i never really expected much to come of this, because i feel so inexperienced and the schools website gave me the impression that most of the teachers there have masters degrees and have been teaching for more than 10 years. i kind of thought, “maybe i can teach for a few years somewhere else and then apply and get a job at hershey after i have some experience (and more to offer)”. my parents told me repeatedly “they have to hire someone” and “some school has to hire first year teachers” and “don’t sell yourself short”.
parents…they tend to be right…not that i have a job offer…but i have been through two interviews with hershey already! i got a phone call two days before i was to come back to tn for about a 7 day easter break. the assistant principal had reviewed my application and would like to set up a phone interview…the NEXT DAY. so i did the phone interview (about an hour) and was told that within 2 weeks i would hear back about the next step in the interview process. the morning after my phone interview, i was traveling by airplane to tn. when i got off my first flight, i had a voice mail from the assistant principal. they wanted to invite me to the school to teach a 15 minute lesson (to administrators and teachers) and to have a face-to-face interview. not only that, they wanted me to come the first day i was back from my break! we negotiated to change the date to the second monday i was back from break (which was april 7th).
so, last monday, i rented a car (which mhs is going to reimburse me for) and drove to the school. i got there around 11 and my interview was at 2:30. i observed some classes, talked to some teachers, ate lunch with the students, and met another prospective teacher (who was interviewing for a math position as well) before my interview. as it turns out, this guy flew in the day before from huntsville, al! crazy! he took a couple classes at the university of alabama in huntsville (where i went to college) but he graduated from Oakwood College (a small, seventh-day adventist, private college just around the bend—literally—from UAH).
the other crazy thing that happened during my visit was i met a group of students that are raising money for “the children of malawi”. i asked how they were donating the money, and they said they were still looking for an organization to give through. one of the other ubran promise interns in camden this year is from malawi and is going back in june to start an after-school ministry there. and he is looking for funding! i told the students this and got their contact information. once i got back to camden, i gave the UP intern their information and emailed them his information. hopefully god was working and will continue to work through those connections.
i do not know anything yet about the interview other than the fact that i enjoyed it greatly and feel like i represented myself well. if they hire me they will get what they saw. if they choose not to hire me they will know what they are missing. its all out of my hands now. i pray that god will open doors if i am supposed to be there and that he will close them and help me seek other opportunities for next year if hershey is not where he wants me next year.
stay tuned…i will keep you all posted on what i think my life after mission year will be like.
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