This year, the math department welcomes Kimberly Shea, the new math teacher at Gloucester High School. She replaced Ms. McGlynn, and teaches Algebra 1, 2, and SAI Pre-Algebra.

Shea grew up in Beverly, and attended Beverly Public Schools until college. Once she graduated, she decided to go to Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, for law. After leaving college, Shea eventually decided to pursue teaching, which she has been doing for 10 years.

“I’ve always been good at math and it was a coworker at the Bank of Boston who was really good at making recipes,” Shea said, when asked what inspired her to teach. “She used to come to my desk and say she didn’t understand numbers, and I almost fell out of my chair, because every recipe is filled with fractions.” Her approach to teaching helped her coworker realize that numbers are everywhere, and math is simply the application of them. “I had always secretly wanted to be a teacher in the back of my head, but I went to school for business and I thought that was it. I told her she was excellent at math.” 

Shea started looking into teaching jobs, eventually stumbling across an open position at O’Maley Middle School. After working in Gloucester for five years, Shea found herself feeling drawn to her Beverly roots. She left O’Maley and taught at Beverly High School for five years. However, the more time she spent in her hometown, the more Shea realized that she felt a  stronger connection to Gloucester than anywhere else. As soon as a position in the math department opened up at GHS, she jumped at the opportunity to return.

Her students this year think highly of her. “She’s interesting and makes math understandable.” Junior Aleena Dort said. “Which is a nice change from math classes from years prior.” Not only do her students like her, but she also loves the stuff she is doing, it puts her over the moon thinking about how she can change and mold the minds of the next generation.

Ms. Shea can be found in room 3218, or at [email protected].