We recently connected with Emily Haugh and have shared our conversation below.

Emily, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned in school and why that lesson is important to you?

The most important lesson I learned in school is every person has gifts, but many people aren’t able to see their own; I believe it is the job of educators and other influential adults to help our young people see what is unique about them and what they are capable of. I came to this lesson through my own experience. As a high school student, I would define myself as incredibly average. In my mind, nothing made me extraordinary in any way. I did well in school, but never phenomenally. I did fine in sports but was never a stand-out. I believed myself to be average and I was perfectly fine with that. What I didn’t see about myself was that I was fairly gifted in math. From a young age, I had always been the one to help my peers and truly enjoyed doing so. My math grades were good, not great, as with everything else, until a teacher noticed me. In my senior year of high school, I took a healthy risk and tried AP Calculus. The course had a reputation of being notoriously tough, so I thought I’d be lucky to squeak by with a B. A couple of months into the course, I was surprised that I still had an A, so I talked to my teacher. I said, “Mr. Balding, everyone says this is the toughest class in school, but it hasn’t gotten hard yet. When will it?” His response changed my life. He simply said, “It already got hard, Emily. You’re just really good at it.” That was the first time in my life I had felt noticed for being great at anything and it changed my trajectory. His belief in me gave me belief in myself. I went into math thinking, “I’ve got this,” every day and I did. I got a 5 on the AP Calc exam and decided to be a math major in college. After receiving an undergrad in mathematics, I went back to become a math teacher. I continue to teach math today and feel truly fortunate because I have my dream job. There is nothing else I would rather be doing than helping the amazing young people I get to work with see just how much they are capable of.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have always loved helping others, but for a long time I was adamant against being a teacher. I was overly concerned with the perception of others and wanted to pursue a more prestigious job. After graduating from undergrad with a math & chemistry degree, I thought about all sorts of careers in the health sphere, but none of them made me feel excited. Only when a friend told me to, “find a job that doesn’t feel like a job,” did I finally know what I should do. Working with kids has always brought me such incredible joy that it seems silly it took me so long to realize teaching was my passion, but I’m so grateful I finally got there. I’m now in my fifteenth year of teaching and it continues to bring me immense joy. My role has evolved a lot; now I spend most of my time coordinating Academic Mentors, student-leaders who build relationships and support academic development in the classroom under the guidance of a supervising teacher. This facet of my job is awesome as I get to see students see what an incredible impact they can have on others when they are willing to share their gifts & talents. The program has been a game changer at the high school; at a time when budgets are tight and class sizes are rising, we are able to continue to give students access to personalized support, while at the same time giving our mentors the opportunity to grow as leaders. It’s a win-win situation.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

During COVID, we had to pivot from being in-person to completely online. At first, I didn’t think it could work to have mentors supporting learning via Zoom, but we found ways to utilize the mentors within our distance learning models. It became a priceless resource to get students connected, both for the human connection needed during that time and for the academic support so many students needed.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

When younger students see older students in their classrooms, supporting student learning, it often inspires them to become a mentor when they are old enough to do so. The students are grateful for the help they received when they needed it and want to give back.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @whsacademicmentors