Ever since she was young, Christa Polan knew she wanted to be a math teacher, as she always liked playing ‘school’.
“The reason I chose math was because of my high school math teachers. I really enjoyed their classes, and I was just drawn to that subject.”
Polan’s academic journey started at Shrine Catholic High School and Academy, a coeducational Catholic school in Royal Oak, Michigan. From there, she headed to Michigan State University, where she received a Bachelor in Science and Mathematics and a Masters in Administration.
Initially, Polan didn’t want to go to Michigan State University; she was “dead set” on Grand Valley State University. She says there was no particular event that changed her mind. She simply woke up one morning and decided Michigan State University was the school for her. Ultimately, Polan is glad she made this decision due to the fact that “Michigan State is top for education, and I’m an educator, so it makes sense that I went there.”
With her math degree in hand, Polan set out to start her teaching career. Prior to Troy High School, she taught at Mercy High School and Regina High School, both of which are private all-girls Catholic schools. Both schools are relatively small, with 655 and 270 students, respectively, which is a contrast in comparison to Troy High School’s student body of over 2000 students.
When questioned about her transition from smaller private schools to Troy High School, Polan stated, “The transition wasn’t too different from any other school. Students are students, and it is just more so the size of the school and just getting to know the procedures around here.”
However, Polan did say that Troy High School is “a lot bigger than I’m used to. Other than Michigan State, I’ve only been at smaller schools, even as a student myself, so it’s a little wild walking through the halls at passing time. But I’m really enjoying it so far.”
Luckily for Polan, when transitioning from smaller schools to a larger school, she had a friend to help her, Jessica Craft. Craft and Polan worked together at Regina High School prior to working together at Troy High School. When asked how having a friend in Craft has benefited her transition to Troy High School, Polan said, “It’s a big school here that I’m getting used to, so any guidance that she (Craft) provides me, even before school started, was very much appreciated.”
At Troy High School, Polan teaches Algebra 1 and Algebra 2, and it is important to her that while teaching students these subjects, they “understand the reason why we are doing things.”
Polan states that the “why” is especially important in algebra because “algebra tends to be so methodical, so it’s a balance of making sure they know how to do it but also the why.”
When she’s not teaching, Polan enjoys reading and baking, even “dabbling in breads.”
During her summers, Polan spends lots of time with her two sons, saying, “We do a lot of things together, where we’ll go to the zoo, we’ll go to the pool, and we’ll go up north to our family cottage. So we have a lot of just outings as the three of us while Dad’s at work.”
Polan chose to teach at the high school level because she doesn’t think she has the patience for any other little kids but her own. Regardless, she’s still living the dream teaching Algebra 1 and 2 at Troy High School.
