Twenty five years ago when the gates of North Star first unlocked, a certain teacher stepped foot into Room 142, marking the beginning of her journey at North Star. That teacher is Ms. Snyder- who still remains teaching at North Star today. “This is my 33rd year of teaching”, she says after previously having taught at Taft Elementary School. As many of us know, NSA is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Along with the school’s anniversary, it is also Ms. Snyder’s 25th anniversary at NSA too!

As mentioned earlier, Ms. Snyder first started her teaching career at Taft Elementary School. She started teaching 6th grade and then moved to 5th. Ms. Snyder’s experiences at Taft proved to be a challenge. The neighborhood where Taft is was not exactly the most ideal place to teach, as she says, “It was really riddled with gangs and drugs”. Many of the students at Taft struggled in learning, only adding to Ms. Snyder’s challenges at Taft. She stated, “How could a student who had just seen his mom shoot down drugs learn the alphabet?” Looking back at these memories, Ms. Snyder remembered how she wanted to give up teaching there. “I needed to move or quit teaching”, Ms. Snyder said. 

After teaching at Taft, Ms. Snyder decided to move to a school that better fit her teaching style which was North Star Academy. As previously mentioned before, Ms. Snyder felt that teaching at Taft was wearing her out, which is why she had to make the decision of either moving to another school or quitting teaching completely. Why didn’t Ms. Snyder leave completely? She answered, “I actually needed to teach. I realized this was my first passion.” Luckily for the students of North Star, Ms. Snyder decided to change schools interdistrict and ended up transferring to North Star Academy, teaching 5th grade. 

As soon as Ms. Snyder joined the North Star community, she felt like she belonged and was able to help the students learn and grow academically. When asked about the North Star scholars she teaches, she said “It’s nice to have students that are interested in learning.” Ms. Snyder first started teaching 5th grade, then moved to 3rd grade, moved again to 4th grade, and recently switched back to 5th grade- and is currently teaching in the same classroom that she started in! Some of Ms. Snyder’s favorite attributes about North Star are the field trips, scholars, and support from the parents.