A Portage Life in the Spotlight: Sarah Cohen

A Portage Life in the Spotlight: Sarah Cohen

As a lifelong Portage resident, Sarah Cohen knows a little something about being part of the Portage community, especially when it comes to Portage High School. Cohen has been a math teacher at Portage since she graduated from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in 2007. Teaching is not something Cohen thought she would be doing, but coming from a family of educators, it made sense. 

Cohen graduated with two bachelor's degrees; one in mathematics and the other in computer information systems. While job hunting after graduation, a family friend from Portage High School called her up and asked if she wanted to fill in as a teacher at Griffith. 

“That summer, I was interviewing for computer programming jobs and I got a call from the assistant principal at Griffith asking if I wanted to be a long-term substitute math teacher,” Cohen said. “That call was on a Tuesday and I started that Thursday. I’ve been in education ever since.” 

In the beginning, computer programming was still Cohen’s number one career choice, but after a short time getting to know her students, her mind was quickly changed. Cohen went back to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College to complete her certification in her transition to teaching in 2010.  

“When I was little, I wanted to be a teacher,” Cohen said. “I have a fear of public speaking. In high school, I took a cadet teaching class and realized that I couldn’t even talk to a class of fourth-graders.”

With a fear of public speaking, Cohen started to think that maybe teaching was not for her. With little time to prepare for her new teaching gig, she was not led to believe any differently. 

“The first six weeks of teaching were very rough for me because I was thrown into something I couldn’t prepare for,” Cohen said. “But now, my students can hardly believe I have a fear of public speaking.” 

Now, teaching is her passion. Helping students learn and teaching them in ways that relate to their everyday life so that if a time comes that they do need to apply a math skill, they will have no problem. 

“Some days are very mundane, but there are just some really fun days and the kids are fun,” said Cohen. “Every day is a new experience and building connections with the kids is my favorite part.”