Three high-school faculty members who left the school in June are challenging themselves with very different jobs.
Mollie Hawkins, former assistant librarian, is now working as a copywriter for Adventist Health’s corporate headquarters in Roseville.
Hawkins said her day-to-day work varies because the company is working on a rebranding campaign. However, she has spent most of her time writing articles for the company magazines, blogs and promo-video scripts and conducting phone interviews.
“I never know what the day will bring,” she said.
“For instance, the second day on the job they had me fly down to Burbank to help shoot a video in one of the hospitals. It was wild!
“I felt like an awkward Barbara Walters.”
Hawkins said that she likes having a lot of variety in what she gets to write because it keeps her sharp.
Although her job as a copywriter is different from that of yearbook adviser, she said that there is an online “yearbook” of all the corporate employees, which can be useful for writing stories.
“The major difference from SCDS is that they use PCs!” she said.
According to Hawkins, the building in which she works has its own version of “Narnia” (the closet in the Matthews Library).
“It’s a small room tucked away next to the small gym with a twin-sized bed and a cozy chair,” she said.
Michael Cvetich stands with his new class in Nantucket. Cvetich teaches seventh- and eighth-grade humanities at Nantucket Lighthouse School.
“I don’t know why it’s there, but I’m making it my mission to figure it out.”
Michael Cvetich, former technology support specialist, is now a seventh- and eighth-grade humanities teacher and technology coordinator at Nantucket Lighthouse School on Nantucket Island, 100 miles south of Boston. The school is in downtown Nantucket and a six-minute walk from the beach.
“I love that this school has a primary focus on the emotional and social growth of students,” he said.
According to Cvetich, the school is 16 years old and teaches pre-kindergarten through eighth grade to a little over 100 students.
Cvetich said that the school is similar to SCDS in that each educator has autonomy to shape their curriculum in a way that most effectively teaches their students. They have a garden the students work in, a strong sense of community and faculty who are very close to the students.
Although Cvetich said that he’s thrilled to be surrounded by educators, the decision to move was difficult.
“I had to leave SCDS, sell almost all of my personal items, and move across the country,” he said.
“I had to leave behind the teams I coached and the colleagues I had come to know. It was not an easy choice. While thrilled to begin this new challenge, the one I left behind will always be full of what ifs.”
Joe Tellez, former chemistry teacher, also moved, but not very far.
He currently lives in the Bay Area, where he works as an account manager for Bio-Rad, a company that sells medical and diagnostic equipment.
‘It’s been very exciting and I’ve learned a lot,” Tellez said.
“I like that it’s people-oriented. When I did research (before coming to SCDS), I was in a lab and didn’t get to interact with people much.”
Although Tellez said that there isn’t much crossover between teaching and managing business at a biotech company, he said that teaching has helped in his new job.
“I didn’t have to break down a concept when I taught graduate or doctoral students,” he said.
“Teaching at SCDS was really beneficial for learning how to break down concepts.”
However, now that Tellez works in a company, he doesn’t have daily interaction with young people.
“I always had a lot of fun with the students in my class,” he said.
“The hardest thing about leaving SCDS was the students, especially the ones I had formed relationships with. I was looking forward to seeing them graduate.”
—Nicole Wolkov
