In this article series, we will introduce you to some of the ASH students who came back full circle to now work at ASH. Meet Myriam, Class of 1986, who studied at ASH just for her senior year. That one year has now turned into 27 years of teaching, when she officially joined the math department by chance in 1996.

 

When I was at Leiden University, I tutored Bruce Adamson’s students, who was a math teacher at ASH at that time. He was also my teacher in my Senior year at ASH. Then one year the day before school started, Bruce called me up and said “Myriam, I hurt my back and I need a sub - can you sub for me? I'm going to be out for around 3 weeks.” I thought ok, I have two small kids, I can manage this and I asked my mom to watch the kids for those weeks. Fast forward and I was still at ASH by Christmas - I was teaching an IB math class by then. When Bruce came back he wasn't interested in taking over the IB math class over from me, so I stayed for the rest of that year. The following school year there was no open job in the math department as Bruce came back. That is when I realized there was a real gap at ASH as there were no IB Dutch classes. I have a language degree (as well as a math degree), so I started teaching Dutch at ASH and developed the IB Dutch program in the high school. When my kids were a bit older, I then started to teach both subjects (math and Dutch) as I wasnt working part time anymore. After a while it became tiring to be spread out between the two subjects, and I decided to just teach math.

 

It's been rewarding and interesting to see how the job of a teacher has changed over the years. The teaching at ASH over the last decades hasn't changed too much; the teaching job itself has lots more administration to be done. The classes are most certainly bigger - when I started teaching IB math I would have 6, 7, or 8 students tops, and now I have around 20. So the teaching load has significantly increased over the years, along with everything else around it. But I love my kids, honestly. It's the best thing of my day. I love teaching kids. They are so fun and why I stay in the classroom.

 

That's hard to say, I don't know what the future holds! I do wonder how I will manage teaching in this capacity until I'm 67, 68. It's physically a demanding job with long hours, I use most of my free time and breaks to mark. Who knows! But I will always be teaching in the future, in some capacity, as I love the students.

 

As a student I just loved this school. Most of my long-time friends are ones that I made during my one year at ASH and not my 4 years of high school in the U.S. That says a lot about my experience as an ASH student. Then the fact that I was able to bring my kids here to ASH to study means so much - the theater program definitely had a big impact on myself and my kids. My kids got involved in theater and I stayed on even after they left; I help with the play every year in some way. That is such a highlight for me. Then of course it’s the people you meet - I know people all over the world, it's an amazing thing, I have friends everywhere! It is hard to keep up with sometimes, where people move to and who is doing what, but it is really special that we really do know someone everywhere :)

 

We have a diverse community of students, staff, and families from around the world. Each member of our community brings their own story that enriches the #ASHexperience.