At WEGO, some students have started to see new faces during the start of the school year, but one colorfully stands out the most: Healy Rodman, an English 1 and AP Language teacher who joined the staff this August.
While Rodman is now in her thirteenth year of education, she did not always want to be an English teacher; her plan in high school was to apply to different medical schools to become a doctor, but during her senior year she was on the speech team when, unexpectedly, her coach passed away. The death of a mentor impacted her greatly, and made Rodman realize she wanted to leave the same impact on future students as an educator.
“[I was] looking around at his funeral services, realizing, ‘Oh, this is how you make actually change people’s lives,’” Rodman said.
But impacting students’ lives is not the only thing she wants to do: having fun in the classroom is just as important. Rodman lets students vote on a new hair color whenever the last color fades or she gets bored of the old color. Rodman was not allowed to color her hair at her previous schools, so when she came to WEGO, she dyed her hair a WEGO blue, showing her support and love for the school.
“Like, it’s hair. Who cares? It’ll go back. It’s a little bit distinct,” Rodman said.
The students recently gave their input on her latest color, a red that – when coupled with the remaining blue – left Rodman’s hair with a purple tint.
Outside the classroom, Rodman can be found participating in a variety of hobbies, including scuba diving. She picked up scuba diving from a few of her friends, and eventually became certified as a diver. Once in a while, Rodman and her husband try to plan trips centered around scuba diving.
Another hobby she picked up during the pandemic was embroidery and cross stitching – especially after being on the computer all day.
And in the evenings, one can find Rodman and her husband playing music together for fun; she likes to play the ukulele and the piano, and her husband plays the classical saxophone. Her music tastes are varied, and range from Johnny Cash to Childish Gambino.
Variety seems to be the motto of this English teacher, who started dabbling in a mix of activities in her own high school days.
“Back in high school, I did swing dancing and kickboxing. Those were like my two sports, because I was too competitive for team sports. I was just not a pleasant person to be on a team with,” said Rodman.
Of course, this English teacher is also an avid reader.
“I am bad at reading sci-fi and fantasy. I can appreciate them; I’m just bad at reading them. I can’t hold all the weird names, different rules for reality. I just read a collection of short horror stories that was really, really good: ‘The Dangers of Smoking in Bed’ by a Brazilian author. Short scary stories are some of my favorite[s] right now,” Rodman said.
