Caroline Meliones: Spanish

Caroline Meliones, who graduated from WHS in 2005, now works alongside the teacher who
helped her find her passion for the Spanish language and culture when she attended
Wayland High School.

“I had Senora Brown as my Spanish teacher, and she made me fall in love with Spanish,” Meliones said.

Meliones studied at the University of Delaware and spent time teaching in Madrid before she made her way back home.

Meliones has the benefit and insight of going through the Wayland High School experience
herself.

“I remember getting to college and thinking college was really easy, and I was so happy I tried so hard and was a really committed student when I was here at Wayland,” Meliones said.

Fred Lehmann: Business

Although Fred Lehmann always loved to teach, he didn’t consider being a classroom teacher until four years ago.

Lehmann was originally a sales associate for MetLife Insurance. Then, he went to graduate school for business before founding his own company.

Lehmann started an outsource business development company that dealt with the relationships between clients and customers through contracts.

“Business is knowing how to effectively problem solve and how to work with people and analyze information,” Lehmann said.

Lehmann found a program that would let him do his graduate work and student teaching all in one year. After working at an elementary school for a few years, Lehmann heard word of an available part time job at Wayland High School.

“It would enable me to combine two things I was very interested in, teaching and business,” Lehmann said.

In addition, Lehmann already knew and highly regarded the staff in the Social Studies Department of Wayland High School as Lehmann’s wife, Erin Lehmann, is also a teacher in the Social Studies Department.

Eric Wolven: Math

Eric Wolven grew up in the suburbs near Baltimore, Maryland where he played basketball. In high school, Wolven tutored his younger sister and her friends in math. By his senior year, word had spread, and parents in his community collected a group of tutees for Wolven. At the time, math was only a side interest as Wolven went to college to play basketball. Six concussions later, Wolven had to change his life course. He started coaching and tutoring math and then realized that the most suitable fit for his career was teaching.

In 2009, Wolven got his first teaching job in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The students attending this city school were largely from low-income families.

“It was much different as to what these kids have had in their life and where they were being pushed to go,” Wolven said.

Wolven broke up four fights in three years. Two of the fights were in neighboring classrooms.

For Wolven, Wayland High School has a different community feel.

“Everybody here seems so positive, happy and energized. Both faculty and students are ready to work and succeed and push each other towards their goals,” Wolven said.

Naomi Rosenthal: Special Education

“I did not want to be a teacher when I was a child,” Naomi Rosenthal said. “I wanted to be anything but.”

Rosenthal moved to Israel in her early twenties, where she worked and studied on a kibbutz. There, she changed her perspective on her life.

For eight months, Rosenthal taught at an American school for children with learning disabilities in Jerusalem. She instantly knew that when she returned to the United States she would pursue education.

Rosenthal moved back to America and started working at an alternative school in Peabody where her students had learning problems in addition to other complications in their lives.

“I felt that I could actually help somebody and that it mattered,” Rosenthal said. “If you do a job that makes you feel good, then you want to keep doing it.”

Jennifer McGuinn: Science

If you told a teenage Jennifer McGuinn she would be a science teacher in 2012, she probably would have laughed.

“I remember thinking science teachers are crazy. Why would they ever want to deal with the disruptions and the craziness? But craziness is kind of fun,” McGuinn said.

Despite the unpredictability and challenges that sometimes come with working at schools, the school day flies by for McGuinn, even when compared to the other careers she has had.

McGuinn previously worked to make polymers that would serve as the electrolytes in batteries at a
battery company. McGuinn was also a chemistry student teacher in graduate school, which was how she discovered her passion for teaching.

“I had the most fun when I was in the classroom …. I realized I was happy when I was student teaching,” McGuinn said.

William Froberg: Science

Before teaching at WHS, William Froberg worked in technology telecommunication consulting, engineering and product managing and teaching at Westford Middle School and a charter school in Chelmsford.

“Throughout my career I’ve always been interested in not doing any one particular thing for too long. Part of the reward for me from any job in general is the opportunity to do and experience many different things,” Froberg said.