Kate Schiman 2006

When did you graduate from HHS and where did you go from here?

I graduated from HHS in 2006. From there I went to Adrian College and graduated in 2010.Then I immediately moved to South Korea and taught English for four years. For the past three years, I have been teaching in beautiful Indonesia.

Can you tell us a little bit about the company you work for? 

I work for the New Zealand Independent School in Jakarta. It’s an international school in South Jakarta that teaches from kindergarten all the way through to 12thgrade. We are a small campus with small classes. At the moment I have 15 students and the help of two teaching assistants! I actually teach two grades (5 and 6, but in America these students would be in grades 4 and 5). We teach the New Zealand curriculum and our school year starts in January and ends in December! I love how the school year is because I get a two-week break at the end of terms 1 and 3 and a one-month break at mid-term and the end of the year, which means lots of time to travel to new countries!

What does your workday look like? 

It really depends on the day! I teach all subjects so we do math and reading almost every day, science often throughout the week, sometimes there is swimming, P.E. (a class favorite), and art. I have recently begun doing meditation with them for 10 minutes after their lunch recess. I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from them about it. It makes them feel calm and relaxed. Besides the academics, I spend the days listening to a lot of funny stories (one of my students has an entire invisible family, including extended family that does wacky things), and I have one student in particular who likes to make up his own jokes (i.e. “What do you call KFC in Egypt? King-Tut-key Fried Chicken”).  

Can you tell us what your time at HHS was like? 

My time at HHS was wonderful!

I spent a lot of my time at cross country and track practice. Unfortunately, not much of that time was spent running because I was injured literally every season that I ran (brittle bones). Even though I couldn’t help the team much, that team became my family. We did everything together. After practice our evenings were spent in the company of each other.

I never wanted to leave HHS. While most of my classmates were celebrating finally being able to get out, I was devastated. I had a lot of friends who I still consider to be some of my closest friends today, despite being thousands of miles away from them for the past seven years. My friends and the amazing teachers made HHS what it was. Without them, I wouldn’t have had such a great time. The sign (which I read they are taking down!!) of Hillsdale has always been so true to me: It’s The People!

How did your time at HHS help you now? 

My time at HHS helped me become the teacher I am today. I’ve got a little bit of my HHS teachers in me. If you come to my PE class you’ll definitely see some Curby passion and Pastula knowledge and determination. My students at the beginning of the year were SO lazy. I started making them exercise (I do it with them) every morning before class. We do about ten minutes of short exercises and I have them write down how many of each activity they did so they can set goals for the end of the term (i.e. I want to do _____ push-ups by the end of the term). I definitely try to throw in some Boswell and Brower humor every now and then (one student told me, “Miss, you are like the queen of dad jokes”).

Is there a teacher who had a significant impact on your life? 

Mrs. Webb! Since I was in 1st grade, I knew I wanted to be a teacher, but I never knew what I wanted to teach. After I took Mrs. Webb’s AP English class, it became clear to me that’s what I wanted to teach. She inspired me so much. She had such passion and great lessons. Actually, my first two years in Indonesia I taught 11th and 12th grade English. I used one of my favorite lessons of hers in my own class. It was where we had to choose a song, play it to the class, and then identify the figurative language in the song and explain what it means. Many of my students told me it was their favorite lesson. Also, after taking her AP English class, my English score went up 5 points on my ACT test. 

What’s crazy is, those aren’t even the most significant impacts she made. Because of her teaching, I chose to be an English teacher. The only reason I’m travelling the world today is because of the massive need for English teachers everywhere. I did not even consider this as an option back then, in fact, my entire life plan was to teach middle school English at Davis Middle School, take over my mom’s track coaching job when she was sick of it, and live in Hillsdale forever. Because of her inspiration, I’ve now been to over 20 different countries, experienced cultures I never even thought about in high school, and gotten to teach children of all different nationalities, religions, and backgrounds.

I really can’t thank her enough! She literally changed my whole life.

Advice for current students? 

You’ve probably heard this before, but I feel like I should reiterate it. When things happen in high school (even small things), sometimes it feels like the end of the world (a broken heart, a friend who betrayed you, a bully). It’s not the end of the world. Give everything time to heal. Don’t let other people bring you down. Cut out any negativity in your life. If you’re hurting, tell someone. People want to help. Don’t be silent. If you see someone bullying someone, say something to them, even if it’s your friend. Listen to your teachers. You might think you’re smarter than they are, but they have years of wisdom you cannot even fathom! Oh, and if you’re bored and have nothing to do after school in the spring, run track and field!