Teacher Tuesday – Meet Ms. Gombos!

Meet Ms. Gombos

Ms. Gombos is a third-year math teacher here at Swanson.  She teaches both math 6 and Pre-Algebra 6/7/8.  Ms. Gombos is the freshman head basketball coach and assistant varsity girls’ soccer coach at Washington-Liberty High School.

Ms. Gombos has her father to thank for her love of working with students.  Her father worked as both a teacher and an administrator at both the middle school and high school level.  She always aspired to follow in his footsteps.  “My father was always my role model in the academic world with his role as a teacher, administrator, and coach.  I always strived to be as great of a teacher as he was because I could see his commitment to his students and players.  He always pushed his students to achieve greatness not only in the classroom, but in the world and I hope to do the same for my students!”

When asked why she feels her role is important to APS Ms. Gombos replied, “My role as a math teacher in APS is extremely important because of how much math is used in our everyday lives. I love that I can make connections to the math my students are learning to things they see each day I love even more when my students can make those connections themselves!  My colleagues in 6th grade and my math coach are fantastic to work with and make planning lessons easy and engaging for all students which I think is so important.”

There are both joys and challenges in Ms. Gombos’ job.  “The greatest joy of my job is being able to make connections and build relationships with my students.  I love that each year I can do that with a new group of students, while also continuing that with my students from previous years.  Whether those relationships are built from our shared love of math, soccer, or other common interests I love getting to learn more about my students each year!  The biggest challenge of my job is balancing my own time between teaching, coaching basketball and soccer, and my studies as I am currently enrolled in graduate school to eventually become an administrator.  Some days it seems like there isn’t enough time in the day, but I always make it work!”

Ms. Gombos has advice for those aspiring to teach. “My advice for future teachers would be to get involved as early as possible with roles similar to teaching if you can.  I credit my readiness to begin teaching right away to my experiences with my student teaching roles and my role as a summer recreational aide at KidsPeace.  I don’t know that I would have been as ready to hit the ground running in the classroom had it not been for those firsthand experiences.”

A fun fact about Ms. Gombos, “I am getting married to my fiancé, Casey, this summer in Playa Mujeres, Mexico and I am so excited!”