Staff Spotlight: Ms. McCarthy

by Robert Brown 42Fifty Staff Writer

Ms McCarthy is a teacher at Oswego High School, and has been teaching there for 19 years. The classes she teaches include Horticulture, Floral Design, Earth Science, and Environmental Science. She grew up in Lockport, Ill. and somehow landed in Oswego after some really amazing schooling, and jobs.

She states some of the cool experiences of teaching at Oswego are: “Every year new kids, new experiences. Enjoy everyday”.

Some of the amazing things Ms. McCarthy has done is she wrote a book on gardening and used to be on live television. This is before she became the amazing teacher she is now. The classes she teaches all include plants in some way or another, or the study of Earth. This is because she has a very powerful passion towards plants and flowers.

Ms. McCarthy got her education from The University of Illinois. She started at Joliet Junior College in the English department.

She was a student teacher then she states:  “I will work in my field and then come to teaching later.”

Which definitely worked out for the better considering she is definitely one of the favorite teachers in the school. She has amazing experience in what she teaches. This is shown through the students too. There are multiple students that she knows who have graduated and gone on to work with flowers or plants in the ways she taught them. This is reflective on how much they enjoyed the classes and wanted to continue working with plants and flowers.

Another cool fact about Ms McCarthy is that she worked at a really amazing place in Illinois. It was the Chicago Botanic Garden, and she stated: “I landed a crazy cool and awesome job at the Chicago Botanic Garden and worked there 11 years!”

She seemed to love working there so much she wanted to teach high school students how to do the same. Ms. McCarthy also does some really amazing projects in her classes. Ranging from Dozen Rose Vase all the way to making a Prom corsage.

I never thought I would enjoy taking the classes that I took with Ms. McCarthy but after being taught by her it was clear I was really going to love them. The classroom time she uses very effectively and she makes sure you try your best to succeed. The coolest part about Ms. McCarthy is her passion for teaching about flowers and the earth.

“I have been teaching 19 years and LOVE, LOVE, Love it! Can’t imagine doing anything else.”

The school is lucky to have such an amazing teacher as Ms. McCarthy and will continue to be lucky as long as she is here.