With the school year starting, even teachers need some inspiration to return to the daily routine. Luckily, Science teacher Mrs. Julie Haddock has the perfect reason for wanting to return and for sustaining that excitement throughout the whole school year. She says it is all about “being a part of this community.  We see a long year ahead of us, but it always seems it is gone in a flash when May comes around.”

During that flash of a school year, Mrs. Haddock teaches both Physics and Engineering to students. Both classes allow her to bring the material out of the textbook and into the real world, creating a lasting impression on students.

In fact, her mantra for both classes follows those lines, explaining, “everything new that you will use must first be designed by someone – why not an SJA student?”

 This summer Mrs. Haddock attended and MIT workshop that emphasized the principles of innovation and invention that she has been instilling in St. Joe students for 24 years.  The workshop involved people from all different disciplines and spent three days covering topics such as how to get a patent for high schoolers.  

Throughout the course of the workshop Mrs. Haddock noted, “We completed a few projects and shared ideas with each other.” All of which followed the theme “If you can dream it … why not invent it?”

The ideas that began at the workshop will find their way into the classroom this year, coupled with what Mrs. Haddock sees as her greatest impact to the SJA community: the “time and energy I have spent over the years bringing physics and engineering to students in the classroom. I think those topics are so important as our society ramps up the new ideas and innovations coming at us every day.”

Which isn’t to say that Mrs. Haddock spends all her time in the classroom. This summer she and her husband lived in an apartment in Pasadena, California.

In addition to exploring the beaches up the coast and visiting Yosemite National Park, despite the raging forest fires surrounding the area, Mrs. Haddock enjoyed being able to bike to most places.

However, one of her favorite parts of living in California was “seeing and hearing the diversity of the area. In every trip out the door I heard people speaking so many different languages, including Chinese, Korean, Spanish, French, and so many I cannot identify.”

Whether in the classroom or leading the JOEbotics team, Mrs. Haddock’s commitment to helping each student test their limits and come to a real-world understanding of the subject matter sets her apart as a valuable member of the SJA community.