By LAUREN BENYAMEN
Ever since she was a child, new hire Ms. Jacqueline Rochford loved art and was inspired by adults in her life who were educators.
Teaching is in Ms. Rochford’s blood as many members of her family are in education. She said, “A lot of the people in my family are teachers. My aunt is a teacher. My mom worked in a school and my grandma was a teacher.”
Ms. Rochford was influenced by these educators and by her aunt in particular who was loved by the student community. Ms. Rochford knew that she wanted to be like her one day. “Everyone would see Mrs. Parenti and talk about how much they adored her, and I just thought that was fun,” Ms. Rochford said.
While getting her bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland, Ms. Rochford worked as a camp counselor. This contributed to her interest in volunteering at a school to teach art. She then got her master’s from Columbia Teachers College.
Before Jericho, she worked as an elementary school art teacher at Long Beach. Ms. Rochford said, “I was an art major, but I volunteered at a school for art teaching and that was when I decided to change my major to art and education and go get my master’s in education.”
Initially Ms. Rochford was a bit anxious about transitioning to high school. She wasn’t quite sure about teaching older students after teaching younger children. “It’s very different. This is a big, big step. I was very scared to work in older grades before this, but I like it a lot more,” she said.
Jericho’s reputation as a top school drew Ms. Rochford in. But what she likes most about Jericho is the people. “It’s a great school. I really love all the art teachers. I think that it’s a very supportive community,” she said.
Curriculum Associate for Fine and Performing Arts Ms. Breidenbach is impressed by Ms. Rochford’s way of supporting others. She said, “She’s great. She’s actually such a team player. She helps in so many ways. One way that she’s helping this year is that we had one of our middle school teachers out ill and she helped out by taking the class.”
Ms. Rochford gives a student advice on how to shade in an art project.
Ms. Rochford’s teaching skills have positively impacted many students. Freshman Annie L. said, “It makes me like art more. She makes it fun and easy and entertaining.”
Another freshman, Janice K. agrees that Ms. Rochford is an engaging teacher. She said, “I think Mrs. Rochford is a really good teacher. She is really fun.”
Ms. Rochford is a recently wed, Justin Bieber fan who enjoys her family dog, Freddie, cooking, baking and biking. On her free time you can often find her at the beach or even at home just drawing.
