Our latest faculty spotlight is Meghan Ryan! The FoHCS will now be doing faculty spotlights so that everyone can learn more about our amazing staff, faculty & administration.
The Hoboken Charter School is made great by the individuals who actively carry out our mission with respect to education, service, and critical thinking. Outside the classroom, they also exemplify the thoughtfulness and behavior they seek to instill in our children on a daily basis. Learn more about what makes our HCS faculty truly awesome!
I grew up in River Edge, New Jersey a suburb of NYC about 40 minutes from Hoboken.
2. What experiences in your life made you decide to focus on social work?/ What experiences in your life led you to a focus on Special Education? What has your career path been? How did you arrive at HCS?
I actually made a career change that led me here. I was in a 5-year master’s degree program for Corporate Communication and was doing my internship at a Fortune 500 company’s headquarters and while I liked the work and understood it, it lacked meaning for me. I wrapped up my four year degree and continued working in the business world, at that internship for a while, then in Aerospace and Defense for two years while I reconsidered my options. I knew I wanted to work with school-aged children, but never felt that calling to teach, which I honestly believe is necessary to be a classroom teacher, that calling, so I looked into counseling and decided to specialize in School Counseling. I have not looked back for a moment, this is absolutely what I am meant to do and I love it, there is no lack of meaning in my work anymore.
This was my first job out of graduate school – the ability to be the first in this role in this school is/was the most amazing opportunity for me. I was able to build the program and am very proud of where we are and where we are going.
3. Where did you go to school?
4. Tell us something you are really proud of.
My tenacity, there are a fair number of setbacks that have come along that could have derailed me and while they may have given me pause, nothing has stopped me. I credit most of that to my incredibly strong mother, but now I can start to take credit for some of it too.
5. Tell us something most parents and students don’t know about you.
6. What is your favorite Hoboken restaurant?
7. What’s is your favorite book/author & why?
I love to read, for 2017 I set a challenge for myself to read 52 books, one book a week – I failed, I blame Netflix! I read about 30 books last year, so I have renewed the 52 book challenge for 2018 and am starting strong, I have a stack of books ready to go and have joined a book club to keep me honest. I My favorite author is Joshilyn Jackson, I have read all of her books, they are hard to put down because they create so much emotion in the reader. However, when I want to read but not have it be too heavy, I am always glad to grab one of Chelsea Handler’s books which I always have around!
8. In your opinion, What is the best thing about HCS?
The community of students – being so small, we have the ability to know every student as an individual. There is not a kid I pass in the hallway whose name I do not know – that is good and bad for them, we know right away if a student is having a bad day, there really is no hiding here, I love that the students know that we are here for them.
9. What’s your favorite thing to do when you are not at school?
I should say read – as per the challenge above, but when I do not feel like picking up a book, Netflix is always an option and honestly, when I need to destress, I really enjoy cleaning!