Mrs. Coelho: A Passionate Teacher of Students and Language

Eddie Bom Fim '24, Contributing Writer

Mrs. Coelho has been teaching for 30 years. She started teaching in 1991. When she was a kid she wanted to become a college professor; however, due to life circumstances, she ended up as a high school teacher. And she loves it.

She thinks teenagers are cool people, “They’re minds are fun, they’re always exploring the world and they have this energy that keeps me young.”

She’s happy that she ended up being a high school teacher. Mrs. Coelho started tutoring right after college. She was looking for jobs and a high school needed a Bilingual teacher so she went to the high school and translated a whole page in a science book to Portuguese and got the job.

Mrs. Coelho speaks Portuguese as a second language. She was married to a Brazilian man and didn’t like to be in a place where she didn’t understand the language so she taught herself Portuguese. She also has studied French, German, and Spanish.

Her students inspire her and she loves when the students are engaged and interested in learning. She also loves when they’re following their passion and when they’re being themselves.

When asked what teaching has been like during the pandemic, Mrs. Coelho shares, “In a word, Horrible! It was really hard for teachers and for me to connect with students through a computer. There was a lot of anxiety, depression, and a lot of difficulty helping students. It was hard to build a sense of community, that for me was the hardest part about the pandemic.”

Mrs. Coelho reflects on her advice for her younger self.

She says, “One piece of advice I’d tell my younger self is to breathe and that life is never going to be perfect, but overall it’s gonna be good, Believe in yourself and trust your instincts on what’s right for you, don’t let other people tell what’s best for you, and don’t compare yourself to others, just do what’s right for you.”