As students are coming back from winter break they have grown used to their previous schedule and the school life before break. With new schedules and a new decade they have to prep for the future. For some this break was one of new opportunities and new beginnings.

Nick Schlenke was a student teacher for Algebra I and Geometry teacher Tim Besse. He came to FHN to student teach from the first day of school to a couple of weeks before finals. Now he is teaching at FHN full-time. Schlenke was able to join the math department due to Calculus Geometry and Algebra II teacher Greg Brown leaving at semester. This left a job opening for applicants to apply for. 

“When Mr. Brown left they posted the position, so I interviewed and was hired that way,” Sclenke said. “It was a little bit of good luck and just being at the right place at the right time, but it was also a really good fit because I enjoy being here at FHN.”

Due to Schlenke having student taught in first semester allowed for him to have relationships already formed with some of the students, so the transition of joining half way through the year was not as difficult as it could have been. 

When Schlenke student taught he watched Besse teach Algebra I and Geometry. Watching Besse teach those subjects allowed him to figure out how to teach his own Geometry classes in a similar manner. But because Besse did not teach Algebra II which Schlenke is now teaching, it allows for him to be more creative with the ways he wants to teach his students.

“I think I had the biggest growth in that first five or six weeks [of student teaching],” Schlenke said. “I really have found things that worked well for me in the classroom because there are so many different things to think about.”

Returning to FHN to teach full-time and already being familiar with the building has allowed Schlenke grow to love this school. With his goals for the rest of this year being centered around making sure his students are being successful, there is a small part of him that also is striving to remain here at FHN. 

“I’m still learning how to be as good as a teacher [as I can be], and a lot of students are trying to improve themselves as a student,” Schlenke said. “It’s still new to me so I’m finding things almost daily now that can help me improve, and that goes all the way back to when I started student teaching.”