In order to welcome Ms. Ware to Hastings as our new assistant principal, I sat down with her for a brief interview about her background and her goals for the future of HHS.
Natalie Garson (NG): Can you tell me a little bit about your educational background: where you’ve worked, what you’ve done before Hastings, and how you got interested in education in the first place?
Tara Ware (TW): I did teacher assistant tutoring in college, but then after college I joined the teaching fellows in New York City, and so I became a teacher in 2008 in the Bronx at a Title I school. I did Christopher Columbus for 1 year and then moved to Validus for 11 years after Columbus HS so I was teaching for 12 years total before transitioning to an administration position. And then after that, I became an assistant principal in the Bronx as well, right across Crotona Park at Explorations Academy. So, my entire career has been education, and I was a science teacher for the 12 years before I was an assistant principal.
NG: How did you decide to get into leadership and your assistant principal role?
TW: I guess it was always just kind of recommended from my staff and my school. As a teacher, I was super energetic and passionate and excited, so I did a lot of leadership things. For example, I was on a bunch of news stations and so forth, and for the science genius program I did a lot of scheduling programming and admin work. So, at one point, an opportunity opened up to go to grad school, and my principal recommended me for it, and then I ended up doing it. [Then I spent] five more years as a teacher because I wasn’t sure I wanted to be an admin, but then I decided to go for it. I wanted to take a leadership role, and so I decided to be an assistant principal. And why Hastings in particular? Well I live in Yonkers, about five minutes away from here, and I’m really active in the Hastings tennis community at the Tennis Club. And so, I know the community in the sense of families there, and I know the town, the village, and downtown area, and the beautiful restaurants and so forth. I decided to apply since it was so close to home, but then what really sold me was the interview. The interview had students, parents, teachers, admin, and everyone was just so supportive, so welcoming — a true community. And I’ve always been a really hard worker, and schools are my second home. So, just being part of that community during that interview, it just felt right. So, actually, the interview fully sold me into why I decided to come here.
NG: Can you tell me a little bit about what you’re excited to bring to Hastings?
TW: I have a wealth of experience with social-emotional learning, project-based learning, and infusing real world applications into the curriculum. I bring all that with experience, but so many amazing things are already being done here. I’m here to just add ideas and I’m excited for anything that someone comes to me with and wants to work on and collaborate with. My whole life I’ve been a team person from sports to professional, and collaboration is important to me.
NG: Awesome, and then can you tell me about what you’re excited about that’s already here in Hastings?
TW: Oh, a million things. I’m really excited about the extracurriculars. For example, I was excited to be at the One Acts. I was excited to be at sports games. I hear the robotics competition is coming up. So, I want to be there. I’m really big into education as having both a super successful, highly rigorous curriculum and great extracurriculars. I’m just really excited to just keep learning more and more about the community and see where my expertise can be integrated. But the more and more I learn about this community, the more and more I love it.
NG: Is there any fun fact that you would like to share with the Hastings community?
TW: So, obviously, I’m a tennis player. So, that’s a big part of my life. But I think a fun fact that would be kind of cool is I have done bungee jumping and I have done skydiving in New Zealand because I studied abroad in Australia and New Zealand for my science major.
NG: That’s so cool! Is there anything else you’d like to say on the record to the Hastings community?
TW: I mean, besides the fact that I’m just happy to be here, every single person from our students, our staff, our parents, our janitors, to our main office, has been so inclusive and so kind and intelligent and hardworking and proactive. So, I’ve just honestly been happy to be here and I feel welcomed.
