By TATYANNA CABRAL
Julie Snyder is a new addition to the Malden High School staff this year. Snyder is the only Latin teacher in the whole school. Before she joined the MHS pack, she was a student teacher at North Quincy.
In high school, Snyder’s favorite subjects had been Latin and Physics. She had a passion for Latin and loved learning other languages as well. Snyder graduated from Boston University majoring in Latin and Classics Education, and she “loved it there.” Latin and Classics is a combination of Latin, ancient Greek, philosophy, and history. If she had the chance to study abroad, Snyder would most likely take that chance.
Snyder attended Brockton High School, and was a member of the drama club, something she enjoyed very much because she was able to build and designed the sets for plays. Snyder had been one of the head members of the drama club. During shows, she was the stage manager, directing everybody on where to put things and how to set up the lights. When Snyder attended Brockton High School, being a stage manager had been her job, but she dealt with more of the lights and sound for the concerts and plays at Boston University.
For some people, it takes a while to figure out what they want to do with their life, but not with Snyder; she knew, since high school, that she wanted to teach Latin. She has always loved Latin and mythology. Snyder believed that Latin “is an important thing for people to keep up with.” One of the factors that had helped her decide to teach Latin in high school, is that she thought tutoring in high school was enjoyable.
In class, Snyder wants the students to be more active with one another. She loves the kids at MHS because “they are awesome,” and MHS is a “wonderful school.” She thinks that “every student should learn a foreign language at least once in their life.” Snyder said that Latin is a great language to learn, because most languages are based off of it. Learning Latin would help students with their grammar, which is helpful because “most people [do not] understand the difference between who and whom, but when you take Latin, it helps straighten it out.”
Snyder hopes to stay here for a while, and her advice to all students is to “join a club or a team” and ”enjoy high school while [you are] here, and do your homework, study and have fun while [you are] doing it.”
