The Dramatics of Math with Mrs. Hurd

What is a personal bio you want readers to know? 

This is my 7th year teaching math at Lakes. I grew up in Tumwater, WA. I first knew I wanted to be a teacher when I was in the 2nd grade thanks to my amazing teacher, Mr. Vanmeter. I loved every year of elementary school. When middle school came around, I had a lot of negative experiences. The expectations were different and the environment was not welcoming. I didn’t feel like I was meeting my teachers’ expectations. In reality, my self-expectations were the issue. I ended up being home-schooled for 7th and 8th grade as a result. Come 9th grade, it was back to public school! I had a lot of great teachers in high school (and a couple not so great). Many of them inspired me and challenged me. I had several career aspirations when I left high school: double major in computer science and mathematics and make lots of money like my aunt, major in astronomy and go work for NASA, Major in Japanese and Business and move to Japan like my older sister… there were so many options! 

I ended up majoring in Earth and Space Sciences after learning how much I enjoyed the outdoor fieldtrips. I minored in Mathematics and Art History (for fun). 

After college, I moved to Portland, Oregon for 6 months because I wanted a change of scene. I worked in a daycare with toddlers and loved it. I also did book-keeping for my mother’s Family Practice as a side-gig. After a while I decided to move home to Tumwater, trying to decide whether I wanted to apply to nursing school, go work for Halliburton with one of my college friends, or continue working as an office administrator in a medical office. I ended up gaining an interest in the NUPOC Officer Program with the Navy. After my experience with MEPS, I decided that wasn’t a good fit and went a different route. 

Around this time, I met my boyfriend and ended up moving to Vancouver, Washington. I planned on applying to WSU Vancouver to earn my K-8 Elementary teacher endorsement. I had all but submitted my application when some family events forced me and my boyfriend to move back to Tumwater again. At this point, I was set on earning my teaching degree. Had I stayed in Vancouver, I have no doubt, I would be teaching elementary school today. When I ended up back in Tumwater, I had to look at other programs. I ended up deciding on UW Tacoma’s Master in Education Program. After reading the program overviews, I decided to apply to the high school math program. I was placed at Lakes to complete my student teaching in 2014 and the rest is history. I’ve been here ever since! 

Today, I live in Lacey, Washington with my boyfriend of 9 years and our two dogs. 

What happened to bring Mrs. Hurd to lakes was in 2013 was that she began the teacher certification process at the University of Washington (Tacoma Campus). For student teaching, she requested to be placed at the high school level, but other than that, UW made the decisions. Mrs. Hurd received notification that she would be completing her student teaching at Lakes High School (which she had never heard of prior). Mrs. Hurd met with her supervising teacher, Ms. Coffey, in December 2013 and began student teaching in January 2014. She loved it here so much that she just never left!
 One of Mrs. Hurd’s Favorite math jokes.  

“Why do math lessons often take more than one period?

“Because the teachers are always going off on tangents…” 

 Mrs. Hurd is enjoying being back in person, it was depressing being at home and knowing the students were either asleep or playing video games. Seeing everyone is great and having students ask for help when they need it is great and seeing students help each other which you couldn’t see in the pandemic. 

The impact that Mrs. Hurd is hoping to have on students is that she is just hoping they know she is here to help them succeed and help them get though math. She also hopes to have students understand that math doesn’t have to be the worst experience in the world. Her bridge to college math class is a successful start to those who plan on college and beyond, she can’t express her excitement for those students enough. 

 A few of Mrs. Hurd Favorite hobbies happen to include, listen to a TON of Audible (audio books). She’d love to sit down and actually read a book (she love the paper smell), but never feel like she has the time. Commuting to Lakewood from Lacey every day, she loves to lose herself in a book. It helps to pass the time. Mrs. Hurd is very fond of manga and anime since she was about 8 years old, while she is not as avid a fan as she used to be, she still occasionally finds herself watching Naruto or some other show on Hulu. Mrs. Hurd still partakes in the Pokémon games. Currently, she is looking forward to Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl re-release… She also loves to Snowboard, but she hasn’t had the time to go in a few years. She also loves going for walks with her dogs, Lou the Labradoodle and Dilly the Maltipoo. 

Mrs. Hurd’s favorite parts about Lakes has always been the people, she has always enjoyed the company of people at Lakes, both students and staff. Staff at Lakes helped her to grow as an educator from day 1. On bad days, there has always been someone there to support her and remind her that she is doing an excellent job. Mrs. Hurd loves teaching high school because she gets to have intellectual conversations with students daily. “I have always felt that students are appreciative of the efforts I make. It makes teaching feel worthwhile. Teaching high school math isn’t easy, but I have never once regretted the path I chose.”