Sheeja Mathews of New Jersey has been selected as one of the three exceptional educators in the US for the 2020 inductee class of ‘Swing Education Substitute Teacher Hall of Fame.’
Swing Education is a web based platform on which highly qualified teachers are connected with prospective schools for short or long term assignments. Swing Education works with 2500 plus partners including district, charter and private schools and helps over 5 million students across the country.
During Teacher Appreciation week Swing Education invited the schools to nominate inspirational teachers who made a difference in the lives of their students.
Swing Education in a press release states ‘After receiving nominations from across the country, the educators—Sheeja Mathews (NJ), Jennifer Rutledge(IL), and Jim Strang (OH)—were selected based on their outstanding work and their impact on students and the greater school community, going above and beyond, reliability, and more.’
Mathews was nominated by colleagues and principals from the public schools she served at. She will receive a prize package that includes a $500 cash award, $250 for professional development or school supplies, and a commemorative plaque. She enters the 2020 inductee class of exceptional educators of its Substitute Teacher Hall of Fame and will also be featured on the Swing Education website.
She is also an actress associated with the Fine Arts Malayalam founded by PT Chacko Malaysia. “Sheeja Mathews is one of the talented artistes in the Fine Arts Malayalam. Besides acting in major roles, she is in charge of costumes also. She pays great effort and brings out the characters in the appropriate costumes magnificently in all our productions. She is one of our most trusted and reliable leading personalities,†Chacko said.
‘I feel blessed and honored to receive this recognition and award, and would like to dedicate it to my family especially, my parents.’
‘As long as I can remember, I wanted to be a teacher to empower young minds and positively influence their lives and witness the development of their thinking,’ said Mathews, a professionally qualified teacher with more than 10 years of experience in teaching culturally-diverse student populations in various classroom settings. ‘To see a student’s journey from obliviousness or ignorance to a state of insight and comprehension is like watching a caterpillar grow into a beautiful butterfly.’
Mathews has a master’s degree in Cost Accountancy and two bachelor's degrees including one in education. The New Jersey Department of Education has given her Certificates of Eligibility with Advanced Standing in Accountancy as well as Comprehensive Business.
She says she is quadrilingual and is in the process of learning a fifth language. Her hobbies include painting, sculpting, performing arts and singing.
Mathews started teaching in public school in 2017. She started her career as a middle school teacher and within a few months, the school management offered her a high school teaching position for juniors and seniors for the following school year.
She continued working in public schools but started using the Swing Education platform for the current school year.
Her husband, Mathews Abraham works as SAP Specialist in a Multinational Company and the couple has two school going children. Her dad, K. P. Oommen, worked as Deputy Traffic Manager in a major seaport and her mom, Elizabeth Oommen, was a higher secondary biology teacher. They live their retired life in Chengannur.
