By: Stella Hirschvogel (9)

 

As the new school year is starting up again, Helias Catholic has gained a bunch of new teachers for the school year. One of the new teachers is Mr. Saucier. 

Saucier wanted to become a teacher because he wanted to take on a new challenge and has always had an interest in teaching math during high school and college.

“I know Helias Catholic was looking for another math teacher, and I was in a position where I thought I could help out. I wanted to kind of take on the challenge. Math has always been a strong interest of mine during high school and college and over my career. I thought this would be an interesting challenge to take on,” Mr. Saucier quoted.

Saucier went to Helias Catholic during his high school years and chose to work at it because he has always been a part of this community.

“It was a combination of I went here myself and graduated a few years ago. Mark and Jonah, my older boys, are here too. I’ve just always kind of been a part of the Helias community and after living outside of Missouri for a while and moving back to Jefferson City and getting reconnected with Helias, it’s a great community, it’s a great school, I think it prepared me for the working world and I think it’s doing the same for the current students and the recent graduates,” Saucier added.

Before Saucier moved back to Jefferson City, Missouri, he lived in a variety of places.

“I have lived in many places. I went to school in Indiana, then I lived in Chicago for a bit after I graduated from college. Then, I moved out to Washington D.C. for a while, then took back here in Jefferson City for a year or two. Then I lived in Philadelphia or around the outside. Then I went back to Chicago and stayed there for about a period. Then back in 2013, I moved back to Jefferson City and we have been living here since then,” Saucier stated.

Prior to Saucier working as a math teacher at Helias, he did many other jobs at the other places he lived in. 

“I did a variety of things actually, in Chicago, I worked in commercial real estate, so on the financial side of things. Up in Philadelphia, I lived and worked at a facility for the mentally and physically disabled and worked at a dairy farm. Then for the second round of Chicago, I worked in the investment management world,” Saucier quoted.

One thing that he hopes his students will learn from him is to go through the obstacles with themselves, whether it’s with the material that the students are struggling on or it’s easy material and taking it to a harder challenge.

“The willingness to challenge themselves, if it’s either material that’s easy and just to take it to the next level and being open to personal challenges, or challenges from me when I’m asking them challenging questions, or you know looking through material throughout the year,” Mr. Saucier quoted.

His favorite part about being at Helias Catholic is the positive environment and the interactions with the students everyday. 

“Back to the positive environment that the Helias Catholic community offers both students and teachers, then just to kind of interact with the students every day. Everyone has good days and bad days, and if a student is having a bad day, trying to pick them up, or if they are having a great day, try to spread it around the classroom,” he added.

Saucier’s favorite thing about teaching math is having it be different every day and it’s not much of vocabulary and memorization, it’s more going through the steps and getting an answer.

“I think every day is different. That’s a lot of problem solving. Not as much vocabulary and memorizing, but it’s going through the steps because we have a defined answer. There are multiple ways to get the answer, but it’s helping the class understand steps that are necessary to find that final answer,” Mr. Saucier stated.

Some advice he would give his students who are struggling in math is being true to themselves, then recognizing that there are some things that are hard out there in the math world.

“Being honest with themselves, then recognizing that there are some things that are challenging out there in the math world or in algebra, in this case that we’re working on. And also approaching me, talking to me, and to recognize what's going on and figuring out where the challenges are and where they are getting lost in the material. And also utilizing the math lab on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Mr. Bremer’s class, and stopping by my classroom before or after school, try to become interactive in the classroom. Ask questions, challenge me, challenge fellow students to help each other out,” Mr. Saucier quoted.

One fun fact about Mr. Saucier that he would like his students to know is that this is his first year in a classroom and how math has been a strong part of his life. 

“This is my first year teaching ever. This is my first year in the classroom. Math has always been a subject that’s been a strong interest to me, and I think math is a strong component of finance and investments, but this is my first year teaching,” Mr. Saucier stated.

Mr. Saucier is very excited about this new school year.

“I think taking on the challenge, being able to prepare the students for the basics of algebra, and its foundation of math for their high school career. And just interacting with the students. It’s such a positive environment here, and being able to prepare the students for what comes next from their math experience, and geometry, algebra 2,” Mr. Saucier explained.