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New math teacher in familiar setting
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Neighbors | Shaiyla Hakeem .McKinley Elementary has a new fifth-grade mathematics teacher, Stephanie Beaudis. She graduated from Poland Seminary High School in 2000.
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Neighbors | Shaiyla Hakeem .Stephanie Beaudis (standing) helped her fifth-grade student, Justin Blasko, during a math quiz Sept. 22. This is her first full-time faculty position within the Poland school system.
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Neighbors | Shaiyla Hakeem .Poland native Stephanie Beaudis attended McKinley Elementary as a child and is now teaching there as the new fifth-grade mathematics instructor. She plans to raise a family in the township.
When Stephanie Beaudis was an eighth-grader at Poland Middle School, she was assigned a Career Day project. Little did she know that the topic she chose would eventually shape her future career.
“I have always wanted to be a teacher,” she said, “I love it!”
As part of that Career Day project, Beaudis researched the teaching profession. She interviewed Pam Yost, a teacher in Poland she looked up to.
Now, the two are working in the same building at McKinley Elementary. Beaudis is teaching fifth-grade math and Yost is the current sixth-grade math teacher.
Beaudis graduated from Poland Seminary High School in 2000. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Mount Union in middle childhood education with a concentration in math, science and reading.
She was not allowed to do her student teaching in the Poland school district, found her way home as a part-time tutor and math teacher after graduation.
“I had all of this other aspects of teaching in different areas and I just wanted to come home and do it,” she said.
Beaudis said fifth-grade students are learning how to take notes and are held to a higher academic level. She wants to introduce students to tools that will provide them with good study habits and time management skills.
“I feel like you make a big impact with fifth-graders because they are coming from different elementary schools,” she said. “This is a big transition for them.”
Beaudis’ primary goal for the year is to help all her students pass the Ohio Achievement Assessment tests. By the end of the year, she said she would like each student to leave her class liking math more than they did when they entered it.
“I love math so much and I just want them to love it,” she said.
Beaudis is happy to be teaching in a school system she went through. She has always viewed Poland as an excellent district and plans to contribute to its achievements well into the future.
“I am very happy here,” Beaudis said. “I hope to raise a family here and bring them through the Poland school system.”