By Maya Piken

New social studies teacher Noah Gronlund-Jacob is starting his teaching career at the high school, bringing with him lessons he has learned from travelling the world.

How was your first week at the high school?

Hectic. I’ve worked in schools where the bells didn’t work, which was arguably not as bad as not having bells because at least you are used to having the bell. It’s new, but I adapted.

What would you say is the most interesting thing about yourself?

I used to travel a lot and I used to find myself in weird places and meeting interesting people. One time, I got a message on Facebook from someone I hadn’t spoken to in like three years. She told me that she was in the old city in Jerusalem and that she told a story that I was a part of. The person that she was talking to, that she had never met in her life, said “Oh Noah? Who went to school here?”.

So what is your favorite place that you have travelled to?

Bryon Bay in Australia. A friend and I were backpacking up the coast of Australia and Byron Bay was our second stop. We were supposed to spend one night there we ended up staying three days because it was just beautiful. I decided five years ago that I was going to retire to Bryon Bay because it was just so beautiful.

Do you think that your travels have impacted how you teach?

Yeah, because one of the things about travelling is you get out and meet people from different places. Being able to talk to people and hearing their perspective definitely makes it easier to talk to students who are coming from different places. Being able to find that common ground is definitely useful.

If you could meet any historical figure who would you meet?

I would talk to Socrates. I have always viewed him as the father of modern thought and the whole inquisitive nature, getting people to accept that we don’t really know anything. I would love to sit down and talk to Socrates and find out what I don’t actually know.

When you were in high school were you involved in any clubs or extracurriculars?

Everyone in my school was, most of us were three sport athletes. I played a little soccer, I did winter track and I did spring track and I also played the trumpet. I was in the concert band and I was very active in model UN. Model UN was the big club at my school.

Maya Piken can be contacted at [email protected]