New Teacher Spotlight: Ms. Busch

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Hello everyone! In case you didn’t know, MLHS just got a new computer science teacher. I’m here today to interview Ms. Busch about her past experiences, her time at MLHS, and some of her other interesting hobbies and passions.

Q: How long have you been teaching in Mountain Lakes?

This is my first year, so since the beginning of the school year.

Q: Did you grow up in this area, or is Mountain Lakes new to you?

No, I grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, and I went to school in Cincinnati, Ohio. I went to the University of Cincinnati, which is a co-op program, so I was actually required to do five internships before I could graduate. So, I had to move for all of them. I’ve lived all over the place, but this is my first time in New Jersey.

Q: Where have you taught before, and what subjects or internships have you done?

So I’m actually an alternate route educator. So I’m getting my teaching certification based on my industry experience. I majored in industrial design and my internships were my first one. I was at Generac Power Systems designing generators and power washers. Then I was at an automotive parts distributor in Northern Kentucky doing a lot of photo editing. It was a boring job. And I was at Mattel. I did playsets for Barbie, then I was at Fossil and I designed watches for Michael Kors and then I was at a startup in Berlin that does men’s wear.

And then I graduated in 2020, so right at the beginning of the pandemic with a focus on luxury products, I had to pivot. So I actually had been a competitive fencer all throughout middle and high school and my coach had been trying to hire me back since I had left for college and I was like, hey, I know you’re doing some socially distanced summer camps. Do you still want to hire me as a coach? I ended up coaching there for two years and then when my industry started opening back up again, I went and got a job in Manhattan, which is what brought me to New Jersey in the first place.

And I was in that role for about eight months before I got laid off when the interest rates went up and I had realized, especially coming off of two years of coaching, I love design and I love the creative work that I do, but I really missed teaching and I really missed working with students and I wasn’t feeling very fulfilled in that role. So, getting laid off, I felt like it was a blessing because I remember feeling just kind of relieved because I knew it wasn’t what I was meant to be doing.

And so I pivoted again and I started looking into getting that alternate route certification to teach. I was a substitute teacher for Montclair Public School for a little while and then I actually was a long-term sub for a school in Jersey City and I was teaching health and PE. But [computer science] is more aligned with my actual skill set and the things that I care about.

Q: What classes are you teaching this year and which ones are your favorites?

So this semester I have AP Computer Science A, AP Computer Science Principles, and Intro to Computer Programming. My favorite is period two, obviously (Intro to CP). I really like them all differently and I really like period two because it’s a smaller class, so I feel like we’re able to have a lot more discussion and have more people be involved. It’s harder to have a tangent when there are only ten people in the room, but I really have been enjoying the intro class. It is a lot of fun. I also really enjoy principles, AP Computer Science Principles. It’s very similar to the intro class, we’re also doing some graphics in that class, which was fun. AP Computer Science A is the hardest one. It’s the most challenging. It’s the most rigorous of academics but it’s a really good group of kids, so it’s a fun class. And then next semester, I’m teaching graphic design, which I’m really excited about. So that’s offered to anyone.

Q: What would you say is your favorite part of teaching?

I really love how there’s a moment that you can see when someone gets it. When you go from having no knowledge of a concept to the moment that it clicks and you understand and getting to see that moment for me makes it feel like I’m doing something that has an impact and is meaningful because that was something that when I was working in corporate design, most of my day I spent emailing a factory in China arguing over the price of acetate. And I didn’t get that feeling that I was doing something that had an impact. It felt just kind of monotonous. And so I love teaching and the mentorship and getting to see when people are able to understand and helping people to find that understanding. I think it is just awesome.

Q: What do you think it is about Mountain Lakes that you like specifically, besides just the teaching?

I think the community here is fantastic. The way in which the staff and admin work together and are supportive. I have felt like obviously I’m a new teacher and I’ve gotten so much help and support and guidance from everybody I’ve interacted with.  It’s a very supportive community. It’s a very welcoming community. I’ve just met so many people who are really interesting people to talk to. I’m thoroughly enjoying that.

Q: You mentioned that you’ve done fencing. How did you get into that?

I ended up fencing competitively, very competitively in middle and high school. I was at a very competitive fencing club, and so the people who were like a year or two above me, I saw them going through the recruitment process and going to college to fence. I also saw how much work they had to put in to stay on top of podiums, and I was like fencing is the thing that for me is for my mental health, like this is how I relax, this is how I find my zen, this is my relaxation. I don’t want it to become a job. And I saw a lot of athletes go to college for their sport and fall out of love with it, and then never do it again.

That was heartbreaking to me. It also was impacted by the fact that schools that had good programs for what I wanted to do career-wise did not tend to have fencing programs, so I chose my career over my athletics and I wasn’t able to fence consistently in college. I fenced on a couple of my internships. I was near clubs that I was able to go to. But yeah, I hadn’t fenced in five years and then I got hired to coach and I was like, this is wild that you trust me like this, but I ran their entire beginner program for Cardinal Fencing Academy in Virginia and it was great. And now I coach NCAA.