Mr. Shashwath Sunkum ‘22. Photo provided.
Northwood School has welcomed a new member of the Mathematics and IEE departments: Shashwath Sunkum ‘22. Mr. Sunkum teaches Pre-Calculus and helps with the robotics team.
Mr. Sunkum was a student at Northwood during the 21-22 school year. This was one of the pandemic years, and now that he’s back, he sees that many things within the school are different from when he was here. “The living room was kind of dull compared to now, where everyone is hanging out in there,” Sunkum said.” Everyone was much more separated. Hockey players with hockey players, skiers with skier, soccer players with soccer players. The community I have now found here is unlike anything else,” he added.
In addition to teaching precalculus, Mr. Sunkum is assisting Ms. Fagan with the ski and snowboard club, which was one of his favorite activities during his student days. When asked how his colleagues look at him, their former student, he said, “They looked at me with the same amount of respect then as they do now, and they treat every student and faculty member with that respect.”
Now, being on the teacher’s side of things, he discusses the relationships he has been able to build with his students. “I almost have half of the school between all of my classes, so the number of students that I get to interact with is special. I am close with you all in age as well, so I have some of the same perspectives, but then you also bring so many new perspectives for me every day.”
Ms. Carmichael, Academic Dean and Dean of Faculty, shared her perspective on hiring Mr. Sunkum. “He was a standout student when he was here and then graduated with a double major in 3 years, so he obviously continued to be a serious student. The biggest thing, though, is his eagerness. He could have gone anywhere. He could teach back home, he could teach at Trinity, where he was as a TA, but he said, ‘I want to go back to Northwood and get my teaching experience from Northwood.’”
Ms. Carmichael considered Mr. Sunkum’s age to be his biggest challenge. “Something I challenged him the most on was his age. I was like, ‘You were just in high school a couple of years ago; can you really hold the line if some older high schooler is giving you a hard time with homework or whatever? Can you see yourself now on the other side of the coin?’” Carmichael asked.
Throughout his high school and college career, he has consistently excelled academically; now it is time for him to do the same on the other side of the classroom.
