By: Sarah Sheinker, Opinion Editor
You may have walked into your psychology or economics class this year and found a new face. You soon realized that the passionate and kind face is Mrs. Nichols, but what makes the woman in room 236 so amazing?
At first, Mrs. Nichols wanted to be a lawyer because of her love for political science but after further thought, she decided “That’s really boring I don’t want to do that”. She was back to square one and asked herself “What can I do that combines my love of political science and teenagers” and with the help of her mom, teaching came to mind.
It becomes abundantly clear when you sit down in her class. She has a true passion for social studies. Mrs. Nichols loves teaching because “causes young people to think and examine the world in a way different way”. She says its very subjective and we deal with the larger questions. “We tackle those really heavy subjects, but at the same time there is so much potential for growth and change and there is so much new knowledge that we get every single year in this discipline that I just find fascinating and I love it!”
Before Mrs. Nichols came to River Hill she taught at Wilde Lake. Most of the students at River Hill grow up with very privileged lives, which reflects in the academic achievement and reputation. Many of the Wilde Lake’s students home life is very different than those of River Hill and that also shows in their school life. Mrs. Nichols often had to work with impoverished kids, and with that came a different set of needs. “At Wilde Lake, I used to have a food closet because I would have kids who wouldn’t eat over the weekend, and I knew when they came to my class you have to do a hierarchy of needs. You have to meet the basic needs before they are going to want to care about AP economics, and government, and psychology. They have to be fed … so I would have a food closet. No questions asked if you needed something, you went in the food closet and picked up something to eat and then you jumped right back into the lesson.” The resources for students at Wilde Lake are not nearly as sufficient as those at River Hill, “Those are the issues that we dealt with”. Not only are there very impoverished students but students on the complete opposite side of the spectrum as well. So there ends up being a wide range of socio-economic levels.
If you are a junior who went to Clarksville Middle School you might remember Mrs. Nicholas as your long-term sub in sixth grade. Since Mrs. Nichols already had a feel for the students attending River Hill, it made her transition much easier. As much as Mrs. Nichols loved teaching at Wilde Lake, they had a large mold problem. Mrs. Nichols was extremely allergic to it, which made Wilde Lake, not the best fit. Mrs. Nichols says “It felt like home when I came here” and River Hill has been her home since.
Mrs. Nichols states that River Hill “has been awesome!” She has felt a sense of community from the moment she stepped into the doors and soon found her buddy across the hall. “I have my homie across the hallway … Mr. Parrish, he’s my ride or dies!” she states.
Mrs. Nichols has many plans she hopes to accomplish by the end of the year. When asked about these plans she exclaimed “world domination!”. Obviously, she was joking. But on a more serious note, Mrs. Nichols wants to develop a home-like feeling in her classroom, wants to spread her love of love psychology and economics to her students, and want them to come out of her class with a bigger sense of purpose.