Cathedral Catholic High School’s new math teacher Ms. Christine LaPorte strives to make her Algebra 2 and Geometry Honors classes not boring.

Ms. LaPorte is known by her students as a teacher who gives her best effort to make math fun to learn. She does activities in the classroom that help her students relate their lives to math, which results in a better understanding of the subject.

“I think one of the gifts God has given me is a way to make math fun for kids,” Ms. LaPorte said.

When Ali Berger, one of Ms. LaPorte’s students, was asked about her feelings for math while taking this class, she said Ms. LaPorte made math easier.

“It’s so much easier,” Berger said. “She makes it so simplified… She makes it fun.” 

According to a student survey taken from a random high school (www.grantwiggins.wordpress.com), math was the leader for least favorite subject, which is shown in the first chart. As shown on the second chart, most students don’t like the subject because they aren’t interested in it.

Ms. LaPorte tries to make math interesting by making it fun and relatable for her students.

She wants to introduce math as a subject that might not be a favorite, but definitely should not be a class to dread.

“My goal is to have these students come up and be like, ‘cool, math’,” Ms. LaPorte said.

The new math teacher knows that many students grow up scared of math, so instead of making math a fear for her students, she wants them to enjoy it.

Ms. LaPorte aims to remind the students that “…high school is such a fun time in your life, and you need to be able to enjoy [these four years],” she said.

Ms. LaPorte is also grateful to be part of an environment where her faith is acknowledged everyday.

“I’m very happy to be here, a place where I can incorporate my faith into my teaching. I really like that aspect,” Ms. LaPorte said.

Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Ms. LaPorte moved to Oceanside, California nine years ago. She first started teaching at Mission Hills High School, and after eight years there, Ms. LaPorte decided she wanted to work at CCHS.

With this year as her first at Cathedral, Ms. LaPorte said she is pleasantly surprised by the positive attitudes shown by her students. She expressed how her students show a great amount of respect in various ways.

“[My students] are also very complimentary…As they’re leaving they’re just like, ‘Thank you Mrs. LaPorte!’…what kind of kids say thank you for teaching them? It just makes me feel happy,” Ms. LaPorte said.