Pictured: Soleil Santana. Photo from Marissa Greenawalt

Soleil Santana graduated from Moravian University in 2025. She majored in English with a certificate in Early Childhood Education. She currently lives in Easton, PA, and teaches at Buxmont Academy, Tatamy Creek Campus. 

My four years at Moravian certainly molded and prepared me for this new chapter of my life. As for a course that impacted me the most, I would have to say it was Math for Teachers, taught by Dr. Ed Nolan, assistant professor of Education. 

As someone who never considered math to be their strong suit, it’s needless to say I was intimidated by the course. It was thanks to the help and encouragement provided by Nolan that I was able to learn math concepts in a way that truly made sense! 

Many of the activities we did in class were hands-on. We created a “fraction kit” as a class that contained various pieces of colorful paper cut into halves or quarters. 

I personally appreciated the times where we would create tools such as that kit because it made math tangible, something I could watch being put together and taken apart. 

I’m also very grateful that Nolan took the time to help us review for exams. He would provide us with a practice exam or sample questions and assist us in using the skills he taught in order to be the best teachers we can be. 

I’ll never forget when he brought in a photo frame that said “I AM A MATH PERSON!” And had each of us take a picture with it, I still have this picture. 

Thanks to this course, math has now become my strongest teaching subject, and has allowed me to get my first job as a middle school math teacher. For the first time, math has been able to come alive right before my eyes. 

Every method I learned, from the “make a 10” strategy to a more efficient way to multiply, I have been able to incorporate into my career. Not only does the math make sense to me, but to my students as well. 

Math has become a period where students are hungry for more knowledge; they want harder concepts, and they want more tools to add to their ever-expanding “math toolbox.” The joy I feel towards this is truly unmatched, knowing I have become the teacher I so desperately needed during my middle school years. 

All of this to say, thank you, Moravian University, for the abundance of opportunities, and thank you, Dr. Nolan, for showing me that I can be a math person.