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Susan Hamilton
‘Plain and simple, she cares about people’
Hamilton teaches compassion along with global history
By ALLISSA KLINE
Observer-Dispatch
akline@utica.gannett.com
Susan Hamilton’s exuberance
for life spills across the globe.
Four years in a row, she has
traveled across the world during
her summer break as a teacher at
New Hartford. She visits far-off
places such as Japan, Sri Lanka
and Cambodia and brings her
experiences back to the classroom.
“I hope I can bring back an
awareness of the world beyond
Central New York,” said Hamilton, 37. “I also want to implant
seeds of wanderlust into students… I have a desire to see beyond
this area and I want my students
to have that, too.”
New Hartford High School English teacher Marilyn Montesano,
who nominated Hamilton for the
Accent on Excellence award, said
Hamilton is the epitome of what
all teachers aspire to be.“My son had her as a teacher, so
I got to see her not only as a colleague, but also as a parent and
you can’t beat that perspective,”
Montesano said. “I see what she
does and her time in and out of
the classroom. To be a good
teacher, you have to give 110 percent and she does that.”
Hamilton’s inspiration was so
great that Montesano’s 18-year-old
intends to be a history teacher,
Montesano said.
Hamilton moved from Clifton
Park to Clinton in 1993 when she
accepted a part-time teaching job
at the Whitesboro Central School
District and began coaching volleyball and field hockey. During
that time, she met and married
her husband, Charles, a Spanish
teacher at Whitesboro.
Hamilton said she had a feeling
she’d someday live in the Mohawk
Valley.
“I knew I didn’t want the urban,
large-school setting,” Hamilton
said. “I looked at Hamilton College, but ended up at Sienna (College). So when I got the job in
Whitesboro and thought about
where I was going to live, there
was Clinton.”
In 2000, Hamilton accepted a
job at New Hartford and now
teaches global history to sophomores and criminology to seniors.
She was asked by students during
the 2005-06 school year to lead a
new club, Students for Justice and
Equality, whose goal is to identify
and bring awareness of local,
national and global issues.
In its inaugural year, the group
tackled issues such as hunger and
women’s rights, Hamilton said.
They held a food drive for the
Utica Food Bank and participated in a 24-hour empathy fast, she
said.“I was so inspired by the mission,” Hamilton said. “It turned
out to be, I think it’s fair to say, one
of the single most rewarding experiences I’ve had as a teacher.”
New Hartford graduate Sarah
Harper, co-founder of the group,
said Hamilton’s passion made her a natural leader for the group.“She got a very rare ability to
pass her passions onto other people and get people excited about
things,” said Harper, now a freshman at Binghamton University.
“Plain and simple, she cares
about people.”
Hamilton, who estimates teaching at least 1,600 students during
her 13 years as an educator,
returned last month from a four-
week trip to Beijing, China, where
she taught English to people ages
10 through 40 at the World English
College of Language.
Prior trips were educator tours
funded by scholarship programs
such as Fulbright and the Asia
PacificEd East-West Center.
The trips feed Hamilton’s
desire to see the world, she said,
but nothing beats walking her two
golden retrievers down the side
walks of Clinton.
“I guess I found a place where I
fit, not only in my community,
which is Clinton, but at my
school,” Hamilton said. “When
you find a comfortable fit, you’re
at your best.”
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