Hayley Gombita

What jobs have you landed?
I was a building substitute in the Montour School District right after I graduated from Slippery Rock and was hired as a full time 4th grade learning support teacher at Moon Area School District, where I am currently teaching.

How did you prepare for the interview for the job you landed?
Slippery Rock's education program did an amazing job preparing me for my interviews. I have never been so appreciative of my education as I was when I interviewed. In addition to my knowledge from my education, I researched specific things about the school district that I talked about in my interview. I also made sure to use plenty of examples from field and student teaching to back up my answers to interview questions.

What have you done well at that job?
This is my first professional teaching job and it can be pretty challenging at times. However, I know that I am making a difference in my students' lives every day. This is something that I feel every teacher does well. I am always working to find the right way to teach a concept so that my students not only enjoy what they learn, but they completely understand it as well.

What types of recognition, awards, honors or even activities have you been involved in?
I have only been in the district since the beginning of this school year, so none yet. I would like to get involved in some after school programs in the future. As for awards and honors- maybe someday!

What SRU experience or faculty influenced you and in what way?
The Early Childhood and Special Education departments are amazing. I am so thankful for the many field experiences I had in all different grades. The most influential semester was my special education Pro Sem. So much of what I learned during that time is knowledge that I use every day at school. I really appreciate the awesome professors I had!

What else can you tell us about your success story that SRU students could learn from?
Use your time at Slippery Rock wisely! You get to work with professionals every day, so ask them questions and get into conversations with them about teaching. They have so much wisdom to share. Also, put yourself out there when you get into a field classroom! It can be very intimidating, but field experiences provide a different type of learning experience that you can never get from reading a text book.