Math teacher Ms. Jennifer Scher gives one of her students a signed Generals Period pass to study for the upcoming calculus test. She smiles at her student and assures her that she is always welcome to the math teacher’s room for help at any time. Her student smiles and walks out, knowing she will get the help she needs.

In high school, Ms. Scher was like any other student, balancing her school work with her extracurricular work. Her main focus, however, was mathematics, and she aimed for success in that subject. The success did not come easy though, as Ms. Scher felt that calculus made everything harder.

“Calculus was hard, it was like learning a new language,” Mrs. Scher said,  reflecting on her toughest math course. “Since there was a big class, the teacher didn’t really want to teach, which made it even harder.”

Ms. Scher and a couple of her friends formed a study group that would meet once a week, and they would work out calculus until they figured it out.

She also had a strong support system at home.

“My parents were always there for me, and I have them to thank for where I am today,” Ms. Scher said.

Though she had friends and family for support she once received a 38 percent on one of her quizzes, and collected low scores in her assessments. Calculus, being a college course, also provided more stress with the boatload of work and tests.

“You need to remember everything you have learned from previous courses and build on it,” Ms. Scher said.

Ms. Scher also does all she can to help her students outside of class time.

“She sacrifices her lunch time and after school time to help students out,” sophomore, Ethan Mansour said.

“I never had her say no to me when I asked for after school help. It doesn’t always have to be help on math, she helps with anything that she is able to,” Mansour said.

Mrs. Scher enjoys helping her students, as she was once in their position.

“I always tell my students to always keep trying and never give up on any occasion,” Ms. Scher said.

She also sees a lot of similarities between her students and herself at their age.

“Most of them like to procrastinate like I did, and I always try to encourage them not to. Procrastination made things only harder,” Ms. Scher said.

“She was by far my favorite math teacher, she always gave me great advice,” junior Jay McDonald, who had Mrs. Scher last year for Algebra II, said.

Ms. Scher is always there for her students with great advice, because at one point math was not her best capability as well.

“I believe my job is not only to teach, but also to be there for students when they need help,” Ms. Scher said.