Hip, hip hooray: mom goes back to school

Three cheers for Kathleen Gomel.

Teaching came later in life for her, but what took longer to develop has blossomed and is now starting to bear fruit.

Although Gomel, 40, got what may be considered a late start, that hasn’t stopped her from excelling.

Gomel was recently named “Outstanding Student Teacher Award for Secondary Education” by the University of Great Falls.

Gomel took her education classes at Flathead Valley Community College and completed her student teaching last fall at Swan River School. Since then she has continued on at the Swan River School by substitute teaching and coaching the cheerleading squad.

Gomel thanked Shanna Burchwell, the Swan River School teacher who she worked with, for her student teaching.

Burchwell called Gomel compassionate and generous. “The kids adore her,” said Burchwell, who is in her fourth year at Swan River School. “She was able to connect with them in a way I’ve never seen in a student teacher. She listened to them and what their needs were. They learned a lot. She made it fun.”

Burchwell said the close-knit atmosphere at Swan River School helps the teaching endeavour. “When you know a student well, you know what their needs are,” she said. Gomel was able to interact with eighth-graders two or three times a day in classes due to the school’s small size.

Gomel grew up in Illinois and earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas after high school. She majored in communication studies and planned on traveling the world working as a journalist. After a short visit to Japan, however, that didn’t materialize. When she came back to the United States, she met her husband-to-be, Jeff.

Jeff became an attorney and established himself in Las Vegas. Vacations were made to Montana, however, which set the table for them to move to Big Sky Country in 2006.

When the Gomels’ third child, Hayden, enrolled at Swan River School in 2008, Kathleen decided to get involved. She found out there wasn’t a cheerleading squad, so she asked then-Principal Peter Loyda if she could teach one.

He agreed and she started a cheerleading camp and squad for girls in grades four through eight. The interactions she had with the girls stoked her desire to teach. “I love being in a school,” Kathleen said. “Coaching and education have always been an interest of mine. My love for children came a little bit later.” Jeff has been her biggest advocate, she said. He stayed home and took care of their youngest child, Hugh, while Gomel was teaching. It took Gomel three years to complete her teaching certificate, due largely to some time off after giving birth to Hugh. Gomel will graduate with her teaching certificate in secondary education on Saturday.

Her area of concentration is English, and her background in journalism and cheerleading may help land a permanent teaching job.

Her son Hayden, 11, accompanied her to school at 7:45 a.m. each day during her student teaching and waited with her after school until his basketball practice started. “He was completely agreeable and very proud of me,” she said.