CAITLIN SANTOS
Hometown: Northampton, Massachusetts
and Cantwell, Alaska
Field: Mathematics
Teacher preparation program:
St. Joseph’s University
Anticipated date of graduation:
December 2010

Caitlin Santos has inherited the “teaching gene”: her grandparents were educators, as is her father, two aunts and several cousins. Since graduating from high school, Caitlin has taught outdoor education, snowboarding and even dog-mushing, a pastime more popular in Alaska. Caitlin and her husband Mike Santos moved to Alaska with their kennel of sled dogs and since then Caitlin has taught at a school with only 35 students just outside Denali National Park. “I teach in almost everything I do.”

Caitlin’s passion for math is profound and she believes more students would appreciate its beauty and value if they were taught by high school teachers who love the subject. “I believe that a solid understanding of mathematics is crucial to every student’s success in life.” Caitlin has learned a great deal about teaching and leadership through working with her kennel of dogs. “While leading dogs in a kennel is not the same as leading students in a classroom, these two situations share many basic leadership concepts such as knowledge, communication, confidence, consistency, trust, planning, motivation, high goals and an expectation of success.”

Ms. Santos is a graduate of Northampton High School and has majored in mathematics at Smith College where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. Caitlin spent four years working as an instructional aide in a K-12 school and is currently teaching at Cantwell School in Cantwell, AK.