In a world that is constantly evolving, the role of educators has never been more crucial. Mrs. Hilstein is the REACH teacher here at Saugus. Mrs. Hilstein has made it her mission not just to teach, but to inspire. With many years of experience in the classroom, Mrs. Holstein believes in the transformative power of education—especially when students are treated as individuals with unique strengths and challenges.
For a little bit of background, Mrs. Hilstein teaches a class called REACH. REACH is a class to help students understand what colleges and universities will likely expect of them to be accepted and excel for the four years. It also helps you to know what your a-g requirements are to graduate. REACH is also an acronym, and it stands for Reaching Excellence At College Heights. It means that it is a class there to help you have successful high school years that will eventually lead to you going to college and getting a strong career.
With personal experience, REACH is a great class if you want to get better at skills that will help lead you to a successful college and high school education. In the class, 2 times every week, the class splits into groups, and it is a great time for you to get help with something in any subject you don’t understand. There are 4 different levels of the class. The class moves up with you every year of high school since there is REACH 9, REACH 10, REACH 1, and REACH 12. Thanks to Mrs. Hilstein, all four grade levels can achieve college excellence. Mrs. Hilstein also teaches American literature, which is a great class that typically focuses on the study of literary works written by American authors, spanning different periods of U.S. history. The goal is to explore the cultural, social, and historical context of the literature, while also developing critical reading and writing skills.
Teaching is more than just a job—it’s a passion. In this interview, we talk to Mrs. Hilstein, a dedicated teacher with 22 years of experience. Mrs. Hilstien shares her story, from how they first got into teaching to the lessons they’ve learned along the way. “I’ve been teaching for over 22 years, with the last 20 or so at Saugus alone. However, I began working in the field of education during my early high school years. Our high school offered a preschool program on campus, and as part of the curriculum in our child development and health class, we participated as teachers in that preschool. I loved lesson planning during that time (and still do love to craft and design lessons specific to content and skills to keep engagement and learning levels at their highest). My senior project for high school included community service elements in which I taught the effects of alcohol and drunk driving on teenagers to the local 7th graders. I guess I had never really understood then how impactful teaching would be on my life. Despite everything pulling me into teaching, I pursued communications and journalism in college. However, when I was diagnosed with cancer in my second year of college, I lost a lot of hope. Very few people kept me going during those dark days, and even fewer teachers cared. I decided relatively quickly into treatment that I wanted to be the teacher that I needed and did not have growing up or during my time of adversity. Looking back now, teaching might have always been what I was supposed to do.” She also told us, “Teaching is a lifestyle and a lifelong learning process. I want to share my passion for teaching with every student so that it ignites their own passion for lifelong learning. In that endeavor, a passion for knowledge becomes infectious for all. On an ideal day of teaching, I feel the learning; it pulsates. I start a lesson, and the enthusiasm for learning takes over the room. Students are engaging in higher cognitive thinking, communicating and supporting their ideas, teaching each other, so that I am merely a facilitator in a student-led and driven academic environment. The learning becomes reciprocal; they are teaching each other while I soak in their background and knowledge for my own gain (I learn so much from them as well).”
Photo from:
Saugus High School website
https://www.sauguscenturions.com/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=500209&type=u
