About 300,000 new teachers start teaching every year. 

“Gradually, through college, I realized that I love high school students and making relationships with them,” social studies teacher Meredith Linn said. 

Linn is a first year social studies teacher who teaches cultural geography and criminal justice. 

“It’s been a really great experience,” Linn said. 

According to NCES.ed, there are 3.5 million public school teachers in the United States, an 18% increase since 2000. 

“Teaching at Timberland is great; so far I love all my students and classes. I wanted to become a teacher because, well first of all I love math, and I love building relationships with my students and making a difference,”  math teacher Rachel Bernhardt said. 

This is Bernhardt’s fourth year teaching, but her first year at THS. She teaches Algebra 1 and Algebra 2. 

“All my students this year are really great. In the past, I have had a few classes that are really hard, but this year I haven’t really encountered that,” Bernhardt said. 

Bernhardt got her undergraduate degree in mathematics and did not decide to become a teacher until later on when she got her masters degree in teaching. 

Math teacher Nicole Tierney has been a teacher for two years and has spent all those years at THS, this is her third year. 

“I have grown a lot in the way that I can help students better understand the content and keep them really actively engaged and have fun in class,” Tierney said. 

For further information you can visit these teachers in rooms 173, 187 and 279.