Amelia Forem
Honored As District’s Beginning Teacher Of The Year By Deborah Welky
Wellington is well-known for its A-rated schools. Because of this, young families seek out the community, and school administrators aim to hire and retain the best educators out there. Among them is Amelia Forem, recently named Beginning Teacher of the Year at the secondary level by the School District of Palm Beach County.
“I liked really getting into teaching,” Amelia Forem explained. “I spent so long learning about it that it was fun to be on the other end and immerse myself in the nitty-gritty details.”
The award is presented annually to outstanding first-year teachers at the elementary and secondary levels, who have been recommended by their principal for demonstrating excellence. Wellington Landings Middle School was the first school to call Forem in for an interview. “Ms. [Blake] Bennett, the principal, is amazing, and she offered me a job at the interview,” Forem recalled. “I couldn’t say no to a job at a such a great school.” A Broward County native, Forem teaches seventh-grade science. “I’ve wanted to be a teacher since I was in second grade, and I’ve always loved science,” she explained. Forem holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Florida State University, and a master’s degree from Florida Atlantic University. She has minors in chemistry and psychology and has taken a few physics classes. “Biology helps me to know the subject content and enables me to answer any of the crazy questions that the students throw at me, like, ‘What do starfish eat?’” she said.
Even though things can be tough for a first-year teacher, Forem rose to the challenge. “I liked really getting into teaching,” she said. “I spent so long learning about it that it was fun to be on the other end and immerse myself in the nitty-gritty details. At Wellington Landings, the students are a different breed of kid. They are so well-behaved, so inquisitive — it makes it nice to be a teacher. It gets monotonous if you’re just up there talking all the time. When they’re asking questions, that’s when you’re able to have a little fun.” Not that there weren’t challenges. “What many people don’t understand, and even I didn’t understand from my student teaching, is what it takes to keep up,” Forem said. “There are meetings, parent conferences, grading, training, more meetings and a lot of other stuff. That was the challenging part.” Testing is a key factor in teaching today, but Forem has been able to go over the required material while also keeping up with everything else in the classroom. wellington the magazine | august 2018
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