By MADISON LEE
Jia Ming Lin is the newest member to join Jericho’s team of Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) faculty. He teaches classes to middle school students and instructs the high school Gourmet Basics class.
Mr. Lin attended Queens College, earning a bachelor’s degree in Family and Consumer Sciences and earning a master’s degree in ENL education. During his career search, he discovered his passion for FCS. He said, “I started exploring the curriculum for FCS and discovered that cooking, sewing, learning about nutrition, and learning about family resources is fun. Those are the topics that really got me hooked. So I continued exploring the topics and finishing up all the courses, and I eventually became an FCS teacher.”
Mr. Lin discusses a worksheet with a student in his Gourmet Basics class.
Mr. Lin previously worked in the Glen Cove School District as a middle school FCS teacher for 4 years and obtained tenure. He said, “I have been working with middle school students since the first day of teaching, so I’m really comfortable teaching middle school students.”
Since Mr. Lin only taught middle school family and consumer science at Glen Cove School District, he is excited to teach a high school class at Jericho. He said, “I feel pretty confident since the expectations are the same but just a little higher.”
During his transition into the Jericho School District, Mr. Lin was met with support and kindness from faculty and students. He said, “When I talk to my colleagues here and administrators, they’re always very supportive and welcoming by giving me guidance, words of comfort and reassurance; and students are always coming in with a smile on their face.”
FCS teacher Ms. Rodriguez has taught Gourmet Basics for numerous years and gives guidance to Mr. Lin. She said, “We’ve been talking about what we’re going to be teaching and cooking and making sure that for the most part, we’re covering the same thing around the same time.”
Ms. Rodriguez recognizes Mr. Lin’s drive to succeed. She said, “I think Mr. Lin has a lot of energy and has a nice personality. I think he is eager to be here and to make a good impression.”
Curriculum Associate for World Languages and Family and Consumer Sciences Dr. Chan is impressed with Mr. Lin’s approach with students. He said, “He enjoys working with students and giving them encouragement and guidance to develop useful skills.”
Since he was introduced into the district Mr. Lin has found the work ethics of Jericho students admirable. He said, “I admire the high level of engagement, level of dedication, as well as students’ willingness to strive hard and walk the extra mile, to ask questions, and to complete their assignments above and beyond.”
Mr. Lin is also able to relate to the large demographic of Asian-American students here in the district through shared experiences and values that come from being raised in an Asian-American household. He said, “There are a lot of cultural references, and there’s a lot of lifestyle concepts and principles that I can relate to.”
Outside of the classroom, Mr. Lin enjoys expressing his creativity through his music. He plays the piano, the guitar, and sings. Mr. Lin has played music in front of audiences in locations such as pubs, bars, and concert halls. Senior Hannah Y. said, “Something memorable and so unique about his class is that he’s shown us his passion for music, too. He played the guitar and sang along with it once when we had a little bit of extra class time being in between labs and it was pretty cool.”