SHS health education teacher Jaime Dwyer has been sharing knowledge and joy with the Scituate community for 23 years. Born and raised in Quincy, MA, she is native to the area and has worked in several different educational jobs. From teaching released inmates at the House of Corrections in Quincy to coaching Emerson College volleyball, she has a lot of experience.
Many of Dwyer’s students may not know she is an accomplished athlete. Starting track at five years old, Dwyer’s main sports while she was growing up included basketball, track, and volleyball. Recruited for volleyball in high school, she played Division 2 volleyball at UMass Lowell. When asked about her experience as a high school student, she remarked, “I loved to be involved. I played three sports. I played volleyball, basketball, and track–captain of all three.” Dwyer still loves the excitement and competition of sports but also enjoys teamwork and enthusiasm.
Academics were also a crucial part of Dwyer’s high school experience. Describing herself as a dedicated student-athlete when she attended Quincy High School, she thrived in school and enjoyed learning. Her preferred subject was biology because she enjoyed the hands-on lab activities. Dwyer commented, “We didn’t have health, and that’s what led me to the science and health field, so I loved that class.” Academics are still important to her, and she wants her students to come to class and learn.
Reflecting on how the high school experience has changed, Dwyer thinks one of the defining factors is the influence of technology: “I didn’t use a computer till freshman year of college,” she said. (Today, students begin using Chromebooks during elementary school.) Dwyer said there was an explosion of innovation and new advances in technology within the last 30 years, and this has impacted many factors of high school life: “Everyone didn’t know everything about each other,” Dwyer commented. “Even though there were different groups of kids, they were still connected in a way,” she added.
Dwyer still stays in touch with friends she knew in high school. Some of these friendships were bonded over sports. Dwyer remarked, “We didn’t even have a phone, so I would write notes–so we would write notes. I would have pages of notes, and I would give them to my friend in the hallway. Then, you would get all these notes, and then you would answer questions on the notes sheet and hand it back. I still have all of these notes. They’re hilarious!”