As the new school year begins, Wilmington Friends is welcoming two new faculty members to the upper school; Soledad Moras, a Spanish 2 and 3 teacher, and Susan Poppiti, an Integrated Math 3 teacher.

     Soledad Moras is originally from Uruguay, and was most recently working at an elementary school in Washington, D.C., before coming to Friends. At the elementary school in D.C., she worked in a full immersion school, which was a school system where all the classes were taught by her; Math, Science, History, etc. The only twist was that she was teaching them all in Spanish! Before she taught in D.C., she taught at another high school, and moved to the elementary school as she wanted to know which was the best grade for her to teach. She continues to fondly remember her time there. As she put it, “They [younger students] express their emotions a lot more forward, so it was really hard at the end of the year when I had to say goodbye [to them].” She really likes high school because “at that age you can go really deep into a lot of topics that you can’t talk about with elementary schoolers.” When asked what he thinks of Mrs. Moras, Marcel Stewart ‘22 says, “I think that she’s very nice and very helpful. In class, she always answers any questions [that] I have. She is also available for extra help whenever I need it, and even though it is early in the school year, I’ve already learnt a lot.” Mrs. Moras does miss her colleagues from her old school, as well as her students there. Her favorite thing about Friends is the sense of community that we have here. “You guys do stuff together, and are perceived as a community rather than a sum of individuals,” she says. Currently, Mrs. Moras teaches Spanish 2 and 3, with grades Nine, Ten and Eleven. Since she was in high school, Mrs. Moras’s favorite subjects had always focused on language. She also liked History, but her favorites were an Intro to Law course, Literature, and Philosophy. She really likes teaching at Friends so far, and hopes to continue teaching for much longer!

     The other new faculty in Upper School this year is Susan Poppiti. She’s teaching Integrated Math 3 for sophomores. Mrs. Poppiti was originally trained as an attorney, and has practiced law in Delaware, working in family law and general litigation. She knew that she liked math from the beginning, and pursued Math as a major in her first two years of college. It was only in her third year that she was advised by some of her family members (who were lawyers) to pursue law as well. So she incorporated both math and legal thinking into her studies and aimed to be a tax lawyer. She later decided to be a family lawyer, before finally moving to teaching. She has been teaching for 12 years, first at Ursuline Academy and then at Padua Academy, before she finally came to Friends. “She’s a really nice teacher, and she explains difficult problems really well.” says Nathaniel Huxtable ‘22, who is in her Integrated Math 3 class. She switched to teaching because although she liked being in the courtroom, the day-to-day work as a lawyer wasn’t exciting for her. “I decided to follow my original passion, and started teaching Math,” she says. Currently, Mrs. Poppiti teaches Integrated Math 3 for tenth grade. What she likes most about Friends are the students; they are “very enthusiastic, and engaged, very inquisitive.” For a math problem with a very straightforward answer, her students not only tried to figure out the answer, but also wanted to know what caused the answer to be so. What she misses most from her old schools are her colleagues and friends. So far, she is enjoying teaching at Friends, and she hopes to continue teaching here for much longer!

     Have you met the new teachers yet? Stop by to say hello or introduce yourself; it’ll be good to know these teachers, even if they’re not teaching you yet!