Wouldn’t it be cool to know what our teachers do behind the scenes? What do they do outside the classroom?

Teachers at PIHS have some interesting likes and activities, whether it be cooking, painting or singing. They participate whenever possible or when the season to allows for it.

“My life outside of school is not very exciting. I’m working on my Master’s degree, so I spend a lot of time studying when I’m not planning for classes,” says Jonna Boure, a Spanish and French teacher.

Science teacher Joe Greaves says, “This time of year I am tapping maple trees and collecting sap. My kids enjoy tapping trees and the sap, too. I usually boil the sap on weekends and make my maple syrup.”

He likes doing it because it gets him outside during this time of year when there isn’t much else to do in his opinion, and it keeps his kids busy. He says, “My family also loves maple syrup, and I’m not talking about that fake crap in the grocery store, I’m talking about the real stuff from Maine maple trees.”

Boure may be hitting the books hard now, but she has plenty of other pastimes to her credit. She says, “I love to sing and I’ve recorded two CDs of kids’ songs in French and Spanish at a studio in Gorham, Maine.” She goes on to say, “At that time I started working on creating a local TV show, “One World Neighborhood” which was similar to Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.

Boure was in the Caribou Choral Society last semester, but she’s been too busy this semester to go to any of their rehearsals. She also translated the song “Mud” by Rick Charette into French, and she got the chance to sing it with him on stage. Having doing a lot of community theater in the past, her favorite roles to play were Nurse Ratchett in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and the preacher’s wife in Footloose. Sadly, she hasn’t had the chance to go back to that since moving to Aroostook County.

She says she likes performing for some of the same reasons that she likes teaching, “It’s an opportunity to share something I love with a group of people.”

Stephanie Madore, an English teacher says, “I don’t really have anything interesting, but I do work a second job at Tractor Supply.” Madore previously played for the UMPI band, but she took this year off. She says, “I like music because you listen to music and hear someone’s emotions displayed throughout the song whether it be sadness or anger.”

Computer lab supervisor Kathy Peary has a whole other line of work. She says, “In the summer I’m a cook at Baptist Park with English teacher, Mrs.Trainer.” She goes on to say, “I like interacting with kids and serving food. I also like to cook good food in large quantities for people to enjoy. I just enjoy cooking for people.” She also leads local Boy Scouts to camps and helps supervise and prepare meals while there.

We know teachers for six hours a day. We know we have interests outside of school, and so do our teachers!