Ms. Yaeger is a well-known face at Clinton. But how well do we really know her?
Ms. Yaeger grew up in a suburb of Rochester, NY. She has a younger brother and grew up with two cats.
For college, she attended Canisius College for undergrad and Wake Forest University for graduate school.
Some of you may know Ms. Yaeger as one of the 11th and 12th grade IB Math teachers, and some of you may also know her as the Clinton girl’s soccer coach.
As a kid, Ms. Yaeger had a passion for math. She says, “When I was in middle school my mom used to tell me that she took math for fun in college
– and I thought she was so nerdy! When I was in 8th grade algebra, I found myself acing every test and realized that I was nerdy like my mom. I decided to lean into it and pushed myself in math ever since”.
Among math, Spanish and band were also Ms. Yaeger’s favorite subjects in school.
She recalls that “pit band was the coolest experience in high school” it wasn’t a graded class, as students were there voluntarily, but participants had a lot of fun putting plays together to make it the best performance!
I asked Ms. Yaeger how old she was when she realized that she wanted to become a teacher. She says, “I was always the one offering to explain things to my friends or signing up for peer tutoring as a tutor. I’d say that I realized it around junior year of high school”.
Ms. Yaeger says that she “had the same math teacher for 11th and 12th grade (like we do at Clinton!) and she showed [her] what a patient but thorough and challenging math teacher could look like. [She tries] to be that way with [her] students every day”.
Ms. Yaeger recalls that her patient teachers have influenced her “to see students as human beings prior to math students”.
Ms. Yaeger tries to incorporate her positive experiences as a child in her everyday life. I can only assume that as a kid, Ms. Yaeger was the same, helpful and resourceful person that she is today.
On a separate note, prior to becoming a teacher, Ms. Yaeger had a plethora of jobs. She was a busser at a restaurant, she was a tutor in the Tutoring Center at college, a TA for Finite Mathematics in college, and an intern in the HR department at the Carestream Health company during high school and college. Out of all of her jobs she has experienced, “Teaching has been [her] favorite”.
Among loving math, Ms. Yaeger’s hobbies are photography, soccer, and visiting and learning about Spain. She tells me that she enjoys taking pictures around the city and wherever she may be traveling to!
Ms. Yaeger has been a teacher within the DOE for 7 years, so she taught at Clinton for 7 years, but she was also a teacher in Spain for two years.
Ms. Yaeger says that she has “learned a lot from students who say they were never strong in math but felt like they grew as a math student in her class”. Students have told her that they appreciate her meeting her students where they were at. Ms. Yaeger says that she always keeps her past students in mind when meeting new students who felt similarly about math as previous kids she has taught.
When asked what her least favorite change to Clinton is, Ms. Yaeger responds with “all of the room switches and changes day-to-day. It’s hard on teachers just like it’s hard on students, but [she understands] the logistics of why it needs to happen”. Although she has struggles within Clinton, Ms. Yaeger shows up every day with a smile on her face, ready to embark on a new challenge.
On the other hand, Ms. Yaeger’s favorite addition to Clinton is… can you guess? The girl’s soccer team!
Clinton has only had a girl’s soccer team for 5 years, and they have won three first place medals and one second place medal across a Charter School league and PSAL (Public School’s Athletic Team).
Clearly, coach Yaeger knows her stuff! She played soccer from age five to twenty five, and was on her school’s varsity soccer team. In college, she played on a club team, and she has played in adult leagues in NYC.
Ms. Yaeger remarks: “As fun as it is to play, it’s even more fun to coach because the players on the Clinton team are way more skilled than I ever was! It’s a treat for me to get to watch them every day”. It’s clear that Ms. Yaeger’s support and passion for soccer play a key role in the success of her team, and if not for her, Clinton’s soccer team may not have such a high winning streak.
Lastly, when asked what her one piece of advice to her younger self would be, Ms. Yaeger replied, “My one piece of advice to my younger self would be to take it upon myself to learn more about health and wellness at a younger age and implement those healthy habits earlier on!” She adds on by saying, “It’s easier to implement healthy habits the younger you are. The earlier you start with healthy habits, the healthier you can be for a longer period of time!”
Overall, Clinton wouldn’t be the same without Ms. Yaeger. The soccer team has had a lot of success thanks to her, and Ms. Yaeger is a great teacher!
