Margaret
Herbst
Enrichment
14 Things You Don’t Know About Me
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My father got me hooked on math and logic problems at a young age by posing problems during car rides.
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I grew up in Great Neck, New York, (so I’m a Yankees fan) and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in history, focusing on intellectual and social history.
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I graduated from college in three years and spent the next year and a half traveling throughout Europe and the Middle East. During that time I studied and worked in Paris for 9 months.
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When I started dreaming in French, I realized I was bi-lingual.
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I was at the Athens airport massacre when terrorists fired into the El Al flight headed to New York, and I was living on a Kibbutz in Israel when the Yom Kippur War broke out.
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I received my M.A. in Elementary Education from New York University and immediately moved to Wilmington. I’ve lived in Wilmington more than twice as long as I lived in Great Neck. (Are you sensing a math problem here?)
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I love to travel and have been to every continent but Australia and Antarctica.
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I taught fifth grade in Vernon for many years before starting the enrichment program about 15 years ago.
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My interest in gifted and talented education led me to receive specialized training in the field by attending Confratute at the University of Connecticut as well as numerous conferences and workshops.
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I chose to become a teacher because I enjoy spending time with children. I love to make them think, whether it’s through analyzing a rich piece of literature, tackling a difficult math problem or exercising their creative thinking skills.
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The most challenging part of my job is walking the fine line between challenge and frustration for each child.
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I am married to Topper Van Backer and we have 2 amazing children. Tyler is a third year medical student at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. Arielle graduated from the University of Pennsylvania last May (Go Quakers!) and works as a consultant for a marketing company in Manhattan.
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I am a fitness buff and walk at lunchtime every day. (Ok, I miss a few days, but not many.) We have a gym in our basement, so it’s hard to make up excuses for not working out.
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I LOVE my job and the Vernon School Community.