Note: Hope Athletics is profiling student-athletes from all 22 of its varsity sports throughout the 2015-16 school year and highlighting their pursuits and achievements in the classroom. Seven stories will be shared during NCAA Division III Week from April 4-10.
Story by Eva Dean Folkert and photo by Mark Dannenhauer
A math education major crunches numbers every academic year – in the classroom, with homework, when student teaching. A heptathlete crashes numbers every track season – in the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200-meter dash, long jump, javelin, and 800-meter run.
Both scenarios add up to the sum of senior Jane Pearson's academic and athletic pursuits at Hope College. And it's a double equation that Pearson has calculated very successfully to become the reigning Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Most Valuable Field Athlete and a four-time dean's lister with a 3.61 GPA.
From the time she was a young girl growing up in Lake City, Michigan, Pearson has enjoyed running fast and jumping far and high, skills that would abode well for an eventual MIAA champion track and field athlete in javelin and long jump. Wanting to keep up with three older brothers will make a tomboy do that. "Anything they did I wanted to do," she says of her sibling-rivalry exploits. "I always wanted to beat the boys."
But as much as she liked to exert her playful physicality, Pearson also found she gravitated toward mindfulness and a love of learning necessary for an eventual teacher. Books were a brainy pleasure; math and English lit up her cerebral cortex. "I just always enjoyed school growing up. And I remember a lot of times when I was younger and we'd play school, I would be the one to be the teacher," admits the Northern Michigan Christian High School graduate.
Today, Pearson is a student-teacher at a first grade classroom at Quincy Elementary in the Zeeland Public School system and there her strong desire to patiently yet energetically educate children is appreciated by her little learners. Though the higher-level math abilities she strengthened in Hope classes like Multivariable I or Bridge to Higher Mathematics will never make their way into her lessons on rudimentary addition and subtraction, what she did find from those hardcore courses is to appreciate that at one time in one's life, simple did not necessarily mean easy.
"Sometimes I found those (upper-level) classes to be really difficult to understand," admits Pearson, "and it made me realize that sometimes some things are not going to make sense to everyone at first. Sometimes we take for granted some of the things that are very basic or come naturally to us. But we had to learn how to do those things at some point. It was hard for us at some point. Taking those harder math classes helps me put math abilities into perspective for younger kids."
"Jane brings her whole self to teaching," observes Dr. Susan Brondyk, assistant professor of education who taught Pearson for her minor in planned program in education. "Not only does she get to know her students, both as people and as learners, but she also shares herself with students, which helps to build trust in the classroom.
"One instance of this stands out for me," Brondyk continues. "One class (Curriculum and Methods for Elementary and Middle School Teachers) plans math interventions for struggling third graders at Hamilton Elementary. Jane was assigned to work with a student who was really behind in her math skills and, as a result, very discouraged. Jane recognized this right away and over the course of the semester was able to build a strong relationship with this student. During their final meeting, the student was engaged in the math and was challenging herself in ways she hadn't done before. It was amazing to see the transformation, which I believe was due to Jane's ability to connect with students, meet them 'where they are' and plan engaging activities to support their learning."
With just a few weeks left in the classroom and on the track, co-captain Pearson is counting on making the most of her remaining time to run and jump, learn and teach. She hopes to return to the NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships in which she competed in the heptathlon in 2014 and 2015. She also hopes to find a full-time elementary teacher position in northern Michigan, Colorado, or maybe even Alaska.
An avid outdoors-woman who hunts and fishes, Pearson could never be tempted into becoming a city-gal – "I just love being outside," she says – so a place in the country, near the wilderness would be the best place for her to call home.
So would a place on the podium at MIAA Field Day this May 5-6. Pearson is pretty comfortable there, too.
