Harbor City International School hires its first alumnus as a teacher

“I didn’t expect to be back here,” Boman said as she exited the elevator on November 9 to her new classroom. “When I graduated here I didn’t want to teach. And I sure didn’t want to teach math.”

Despite his reservations, his classmates seemed to have predicted his return to his alma mater. Her final year superlative was, “There’s a good chance she’ll come back and teach in Harbor City.

“I thought my peers were lazy, like they couldn’t think of anything for me, so they treated me like that, “Boman said.” And it ended, with a strange twist of fate, me here is. “

Boman is the first Harbor City alumnus to return to school as a teacher since the school was established in 2002. His former classmate Matt Dexter has joined the staff as a registrar / technology coordinator. a little before Boman, but Boman is the first to join the teaching team.

“He (Matt) thought it was wild. He remembered voting for me for that superlative,” Boman said.

Boman was a student at the school from 2010 to 2014. She sees herself as “some kind of charter school product”. Before starting in Harbor City, she attended Duluth Edison Charter Schools. After graduating from Harbor City, she enrolled in the College of St. Scholastica for Mathematics and Teaching, although she did not start with those majors.

Krissa Boman, from Duluth, seen in the 2014 Harbor City International School yearbook in Duluth. Clint Austin / Duluth News Tribune

“I feel like I should have known because I was a teaching assistant here in a math class while I was still in high school, but when I graduated I thought to myself : ‘There’s no way,’ “Boman said.” But then I had a really fantastic professor in college who woke me up to my potential in math. I started doing higher level math and learning more about the basics of that higher level and it suits me just fine. “

Boman said she “has come a long way” to college. She still hadn’t considered teaching until she found herself researching math with college.

“I realized that I wanted to help others reach this level,” said Boman. “It was so much fun for me and I wanted to share this with others.”

After graduating, Boman spent two years teaching at a charter school east of St. Paul. When she heard about the vacancy at her alma mater, she jumped at the chance to return home.

Krissa Boman from Duluth, a math teacher at Harbor City International School in Duluth, seen Tuesday, November 16, 2021 in her classroom. Clint Austin / Duluth News Tribune

“From the start, during the interview, it was obvious that she had grown a lot since I had her as a student,” said Tom Maloney, longtime math professor at Harbor City. “You could tell she had persevered through the hard knocks every new teacher suffered in her early years. And you could tell she was always excited to teach. I admire anyone who can be. teaching for more than a few years because it’s not for the faint of heart. “

Maloney said he remembers Boman being very involved in the school’s extracurricular activities and remembers her as a “curious mathematician.” She worked in her classroom as a teaching assistant during her senior year. He said he was happy to see one of his former students return.

“My generation built this school. We had a vision and taught according to that vision,” said Maloney. “Krissa lived that vision and now her generation can take it to another level that we maybe never even thought about. It makes me really excited.”

Boman teaches in a classroom she said she surprisingly never set foot in while a student.

“It sort of seems meant to be. I can make it my own space without having any old memories attached to it,” Boman said. “However, just across the hall I have my old literature professor, Mr. Anderson. We have lunch together sometimes. It’s interesting to go from student and professor to colleagues.”

Krissa Boman of Duluth, professor of mathematics at Harbor City International School in Duluth, works out the solution of an equation on Tuesday, November 16, 2021. Boman graduated from Harbor City in 2014. Clint Austin / Duluth News Tribune

Ted Anderson said having alumni on staff “creates a continuum of community that feels good.”

“These former Harbor Citizens truly understand our unique, sometimes eccentric, community-minded students, “Anderson said.” And they can tap into that empathy in their interactions and gently nudge students toward their academic goals. “

As for Boman, she said she was just as excited to learn from the students as she was to teach them.

“When I was in school I didn’t think how much the students would change my life,” Boman said. “I didn’t think about the big impact they would have on me. I had this idea that I was already a fully formed person, that I had reached adulthood and that I knew who I was. But by working with these students and teachers, I realized that I was not done becoming who I am.

“It’s something I’m constantly learning. And I’m happy to continue this here.”