By Celiang H, Mircka G; Staff Writers
Although she wasn’t thrilled to be assigned to Galileo after she received her teaching credential over 18 years ago, mathematics teacher Ms. Su quickly changed her tune as she was struck by the warm vibes at Galileo and has immersed herself as part of the Galileo community ever since.
Teaching at Galileo was not Ms. Su’s intention when she first became a teacher since Galileo is around 30 miles away from where she lives. However, once the SFUSD assigned her to Galileo the distance to school didn’t bother her because of the bond she formed with the other teachers. She said, “They assigned me to Galileo and I just fell in love with [her colleagues] the teachers”.
Additionally, the students at Galileo also left a good impression on Ms.Su, as she added, “the students are so cool; when they are in the hallway they’ll wave at you”.
Yet, Ms. Su still had thoughts about transferring to another school because of the commute; however, when she thought more about it, she felt she couldn’t let go of all the uplifting experiences she’s had at Galileo. Ms. Su said, “I thought a little bit about transferring schools, but the more I thought about it just felt wrong. That let me know I really wanted to stay at Galileo.”
A number of Ms.Su’s favorite memories at Galileo involve her students. Most involve students who for some reason were not engaged in the class activities at the beginning but later on become interested in learning.
A memorable memory is when a student, who was unfocused and noisy in previous classes, came in feeling sick, and Ms. Su, who had bought bottled water, offered it to the student without thinking much of it. But the student changed after that day; she would come in and take a seat, do her job, and ask questions in class. Ms.Su claims she stopped being loud, and if anyone else was loud, the student would say, “Hey, I can’t hear Ms.Su,” which Ms.Su thought was incredible.
In addition, to Ms. Su’s degree in math, she has a passion for the computer science field, as she feels math and computer science have a lot of similarities. Ms.Su said, “I think there is a big overlap between computer science and math; there is math and computacion in both of them”. This year Ms. Su is teaching a 4th period Computer Programming class.
With so much she enjoys about Galileo, from the people to the classes she teaches, Ms.Su cannot see herself anywhere but Galileo. She stated, “I plan to stay here until I retire and I plan on teaching math until I retire.”
