Ms. Thomas is leaving HHS after three years of teaching at the school. Thomas, a third-year teacher, decided to move to Hastings and become a teacher after working in the attendance office at Lincoln Northeast during the 2020-2021 school year.
“It didn’t take me very long once I started working at Lincoln Northeast to realize that I wanted to do more with kids and I couldn’t in my position. I was a secretary so I couldn’t do as much to help kids as I wanted to,” Thomas said.
Thomas, who grew up in Lincoln, has enjoyed living in Hastings, although, originally, she wasn’t sure if she would enjoy living in Hastings.
“When I moved here, I thought it was gonna be all like cowboy kids. And it’s not, and I just love the kids here so much. And there’s just a unique blend of kids from all different walks of life, different backgrounds, different home lives,” Thomas said. “I think Hastings is a really good place and a really amazing school, and there’s been a lot of cool things that I’ve been able to be a part of while I was here.”
Thomas has been a part of Books and Bagels, Multicultural Club two years ago and last year, and Speech last year and this year. Senior Param Bhakta, who grew up in India, joined the speech team during his junior year which helped him work on his communication skills.
“I joined speech, and now you cannot stop me to talk, like I was basically so scared of talking to people,” Bhakta said. “And after joining speech, (Thomas), obviously you talk in speech. So she taught me how to talk, and when to talk, and when to keep your mouth shut, so that was the biggest thing I learned.”
Thomas has been a speech coach for six years, including four years as an assistant speech coach at Lincoln Southwest.
“It’s funny, I only did track and DECA, but it’s a completely different kind of coach. Obviously we practice and stuff, but it’s more relaxed and just having fun in tournaments and stuff,” Bhakta said.
Some things Thomas enjoys doing in her job are telling jokes, reading books in funny voices, and telling personal stories to engage her students.
“She’s really funny and she knows how to joke around, and then she also knows how to teach, like she has the right sort of balance,” freshman Gracie Craig said.
One of Craig’s favorite things about having Thomas as a teacher is knowing how much Thomas cares about her students.
“(I like) how caring she is about her students. Like she takes time out of her own day to talk to you and make sure that you’re okay,” Craig said.
Thomas would encourage students to continue coming to school, to be respectful to other teachers, to find trusted adults in life that can help them, and to ask for help when they need it.
“I think I’m a better person than I was when I started here. And I think about things differently,” Thomas said. “My perspectives on the world, on politics, on education, on so many different things are changed just because of conversations I’ve had with kids and with other adults and learning from people who are different from me has really changed my outlook on the world.”
