Francesca Stark, who is a 5th grade teacher at the Michael Driscoll Elementary School, never thought that she was going to become a teacher. “I thought I was going to be more like a political activist, maybe I would go into law and I thought I was going to help protect animals or the environment. I always sort of saw myself as someone who’s going to get up and make speeches and change the world,”  Stark said. Stark is proud of her many achievements, one of them being that she’s happy to be a teacher. She’s grateful that she has a job that she loves. In addition, she loves being a mom, being a teacher and her friends.

What are some achievements that you’re proud of?

Well in a way I think it’s an achievement that I am still happy to be a teacher: I still feel so grateful that I have a job that I love. Achievement and gratitude kind of go together: I’m grateful that I’m still where I want to be. That’s an achievement because a lot of people have jobs for part of their life that they like, but they don’t necessarily like all aspects of their life. That’s an achievement because I love being a mom, I love being a teacher, my friends are so important to me, I have really good friends. I want people to have connections, I want people to know they have someone to talk to, I want people to know that there’s people in the world who cares. You’re not alone! And so I don’t feel alone. That’s an achievement that I have people in my life.

What are your opinions on homework?

So I have very strong opinions about homework because I really didn’t like it growing up, yet I give it. I try to make my homework so that it’s interesting; that it that it feels worth your time, and that it doesn’t feel like your redoing anything but like your moving forward.  I like to make my homework something that connects to my [students’] life and to school so it feels worthy and important. I’m not always successful but that’s my goal.

What are some of your 2018 resolutions?

I have so many resolutions. It’s week to week for me. I have a lot of goals. One of my resolutions is to no matter what not give up. I have this KEEP Club I started here, it’s an environmental club, and no matter what happens with it I just want to keep going with it because I feel like the world, in some ways, politically and environmentally there’s a lot of negative things going on. I want to feel like for myself and students that you always can feel that you can make the world better. I don’t want to give up on it.