Walking around at the high school, you are sure to see many new faces. Some of those new faces are new teachers who have joined the MHS community this year.

Get familiar with some of these new teachers with the interviews below.

Caitlin Hawkins

What’s your name? What do you teach? How many years have you been teaching?

My name is Caitlin Hawkins, and I teach English 10 and 11. This is my tenth year of
teaching.

What or who inspired you to teach?

Probably just really good teachers, who actually cared about their students and enjoyed learning and teaching as opposed to [cramming things] down our throats…[Those teachers made] class engaging and interesting.

What are your favorite topics to teach and why?

Well, Shakespeare is always a favorite, or literature where we get to discuss it just because there’s a lot in Shakespeare to talk
about which is always really fun.

Give a fun fact about yourself.

Well I did play varsity badminton in high school for the ever hated Eden Prairie. Usually, when I do bring that up, people don’t realize that badminton is a competitive sport in other schools. Unfortunately, Minnetonka doesn’t have a team, but I used to coach it at my first school I taught at. Needless to say I was surprised when I got here, but you know there’s always time. 

If you could have dinner with anyone in the world, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

It’s a teacher from the “blue eyes, brown eyes” experiment, Jane Elliot. She’s this woman who, even before people started talking about racial issues, started this lesson where she would try to explain it to them, and essentially train these adults…She is a very chill lady so I think I’d just take her to a very low-key restaurant.

What Dum-Dums flavor would you be and why?

Probably strawberry because it’s delicious.

Sofi Chartrand

What’s your name? What do you teach? How many years have you been teaching? 

I’m Profe Chartrand, and I teach Spanish 2 Honors and Spanish 3. And this is my second year as a full time teacher. 

What or who inspired you to teach? 

I would say my little sister inspired me to teach just because when we were younger, I was always the first to teach. I knew I wanted to teach Spanish when I got the opportunity to travel South America and found out how much Spanish connected me to other people. 

What are your favorite topics to teach and why? 

I really like the food unit in Spanish just because I love talking about food with my students. And I also really enjoy the travel unit because it’s a way to engage the student about their own travel experiences and for me to kind of tell them about how language can connect them around the world. 

Give a fun fact about yourself.

I’m the JV ultimate frisbee coach here at Minnetonka.

If you could have dinner, anywhere in the world, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

Probably Luis Fonsi, the singer, because I have been a huge fan since I was a little kid, and I got into Spanish music because of him. 

What Dum-Dums flavor would you be and why?

Probably the mystery flavor, because you don’t know what you’re gonna get with me.