Teacher Appreciation: Mrs. Mons

It’s common knowledge that kids don’t like math. However, Mrs. Mons’s classroom is an escape from this reality. At the beginning of this year, her classroom was filled with doubtful students uneasy about the challenging subject ahead of them but through her support and teaching style she made a difficult math class easy.

Mons has a bachelor’s degree in science and mechanical engineering and was an engineer for many years before having four kids and becoming a stay-at-home mom.

“I stayed home with the kids when they were little. I had really planned to be an engineer,” Mons said. “It was always my plan to go back [until] I got side-tracked into tutoring by somebody asking for help for their kid with math and [I] found out I loved teaching by tutoring.”

After tutoring and being a part-time substitute teacher, Mons decided to become a full-time teacher and has now worked at City High for two years and taught at Columbus Junction for a year before that. After teaching several ages Mons found her calling teaching high school math.

“I found I love high school kids,” said Mons. “I think high school kids are hilarious and I just felt like I could connect with them because you’re older. I love little kids but you can’t relate to them in the same way. I genuinely enjoy getting to know you guys and spending time with you.”

Her energy never fades throughout the day, whether you have her third period or seventh, and she’s incredibly patient and never lets life’s daily frustrations or broken SMART Boards affect her positive energy in the classroom.

“I was feeling really overwhelmed in math before switching into Mrs. Mons’s class,” said Tim Wildes ‘21, “but she’s so patient and works really hard to make sure that everyone understands the lesson. You can tell she genuinely cares about all of her students and will do anything she can to help us succeed.”

She’s an amazing teacher, even on the days she claims that she’s a math teacher who doesn’t know math. We all just want to say thank you for her seemingly infinite amounts of positivity and dedication she brings to class everyday.