Former students come back as teachers
By: Nick D’Amore
For two new Greenbrook School teachers, there truly is no place like home.
"As a teacher, this is the best district you could possibly be in," said Dana Romatowski, one of two new teachers who graduated from South Brunswick High School and will be teaching in the district.
Suzanne Maimone, also is a SBHS graduate and now a teacher in South Brunswick, said she applied only to schools in the district.
Once offered the job at Greenbrook, "I accepted very quickly with open arms," she said.
Ms. Maimone will be teaching third grade and Ms. Romatowski will be teaching kindergarten.
The two women graduated SBHS within a year of each other, Ms. Maimone in 1995 and Ms. Romatowski in 1996. Although they were acquainted and had mutual friends, they did not know one another well during their high school years.
"I’m sure we’ll get a lot closer now that we’re working together," said Ms. Maimone.
Ms. Maimone will begin teaching this year with six months of classroom experience already on her resumé.
"I student-taught fourth grade at Dayton School," she said, adding she was the full-time teacher there from January to June.
She was offered a permanent teaching position there, but she requested an interview at Greenbrook.
"I wanted to come back here. It’s homey," said Ms. Maimone, a former Greenbrook student. She also said working with her former teachers is another reason she wanted to teach at Greenbrook.
Ms. Romatowski, who attended Deans School, did her student teaching at Madison School in Rahway, but was anxious to return to South Brunswick.
"I applied to South Brunswick before anywhere else. Then, once I got interviews here, I canceled all my other interviews," she said.
At Deans, Ms. Romatowski was taught by Patricia Holliday, now principal at Greenbrook.
"She is the best. I want to be with her forever," said Ms. Romatowski.
Ms. Romatowski said that one of her SBHS teachers, Linda Fekete, was also very influential.
"I had teachers who encouraged and helped me get to the point where I’m at today," she said.
For Ms. Maimone, teaching is in her genes; her father teaches at Somerset County Vo-tech and her mother is a second-grade teacher at John Adams School in North Brunswick.
"I went and saw her teach," she said of her mother. "Just watching her with the kids, the influence she had, the expressions of the kids and the way they were engaged with what they were doing inspired me to be a teacher."
Both women have clear ideas of what they want to bring into the classroom.
"The initial plan is to get the kids comfortable," said Ms. Maimone.
Ms. Romatowski said she wanted to "establish routines in the classroom" early on. She also said she wanted to create a "comfortable learning environment."
"The worst thing to have is a kid afraid to ask questions and make mistakes," she said.
Ms. Maimone plans on creating a positive classroom environment.
"I want to try to avoid using ‘don’t’ and not give slaps on the wrist for mistakes," she said.
The two also are certain they do not want anything in their classrooms that would hinder the students’ desire and ability to learn and do their best. Both said they would concentrate on encouragement and praise.
"Constant praise gives kids enough self-esteem to want to learn," said Ms. Maimone
"I want every student to feel that they are an active and important part of the classroom. No one will be singled out," said Ms. Romatowski.
Ms. Maimone agreed, adding, "If you keep positively reinforcing them, they’ll want to learn; they’ll want to come to school."
"Without praise, what’s the point?"
The two also plan early on to establish a level of respect in their classrooms.
Ms. Maimone said she will stress that her students "respect each other and their elders, which is me."
For Ms. Romatowski, "respect will be a huge theme in the classroom."
Ms. Maimone and Ms. Romatowski plan to use their own distinct teaching styles to promote learning and to have their students get the most from class. Ms. Maimone will incorporate humor into her lessons, while Ms. Romatowski’s goal for the year is for her students to love the school and each other.
"I love being here," said Ms. Romatowski, "and I want them to love it just as much."
"I think the use of humor is important for kids," said Ms. Maimone. "To make them feel comfortable, I think you need to make them laugh. Kids respond very well to humor. They laugh at the littlest thing."
Ms. Maimone also shares her colleague’s love for her profession.
"You have to love teaching to be a teacher," she said.
"It doesn’t feel like a job – it’s fun. Rarely do I feel like I’m going to work," she said.
Ms. Romatowski knows firsthand that teachers can have a profound influence on their students, even at a very young age.
"My kindergarten teacher, Joan Warren, told me that I would make a good teacher," she said.
"I don’t think teachers realize the power and influence they have."
She added that coming back to the place where she was a student is "the most incredible feeling in the world."
The two agreed one of their reasons for returning to the district is the people in the South Brunswick school system.
"We have support from the board, the school and the town," said Ms. Romatowski.
"Parents are always there to help or give a hand with anything," she said.
"The staff is warm and helpful," Ms. Maimone said.
Though the women both share a love of teaching, they also enjoy other activities.
Ms. Maimone teaches gymnastics, and also enjoys writing poetry.
Ms. Romatowski enjoys "anything and everything Girl Scouts."
The two also enjoy photography and took a course in it together at SBHS.
"I’m a big picture person," said Ms. Maimone.
Upon graduating from SBHS, Ms. Maimone studied two years at Middlesex County College before transferring to The College of New Jersey, where she majored in Elementary Education/English.
In college, she received the department chairperson’s award for teaching excellence and was on the Dean’s List.
"I was dedicated to school," she said.
Ms. Romatowski went to William Patterson University and majored in Elementary Education/Communications.
At college, she founded the campus Girl Scouts and was chair of the student court of judicial review.
She was also president of her sophomore class, resident assistant of the year, and a member of the Lambda Pi Eta Honors Society.