Handy brings engagement and energy to Spanish class

At the start of the school year, South Hadley High School students and staff faced many challenges, from mold delaying school, to a temporary return to remote learning, to changes to curriculum due to the pandemic. One of these challenges came in the form of new teachers entering the high school. New teachers can be scary for everyone because you don’t know what they’ll be like, if their teaching style is good for the students, if they get along well with other teachers. But one teacher cast aside all these fears when she joined the high school community.

Morgan Handy is the new Spanish teacher with classes ranging from CP Spanish 1 to Honors Spanish 4 and has become the new favorite Spanish teacher, loved by many students and staff. She has loved her experience working here so far, we asked how she thought the school was handling the pandemic and she said “I’m very happy with the way the school is handling COVID-19… I feel safe here, I appreciate the personal protective equipment that the school has given us.” Her teaching style has been described as energetic and understanding, taking the students’ recommendations to heart and seeing if she can implement them into her lessons.

When Handy was in the process of being hired for the position, she blew her competition out of the water and shocked the hiring committee according to those who were on it. Head of the hiring committee Ms. Paula Lonergan had fallen in love with Handy’s lesson plan and all around demeanor. “Her lesson plan was fun and exciting,” she said. “It was a really engaging and interactive lesson, which was exactly what I was looking for.” And so far throughout the school year, Handy has kept up with those expectations and gained the love of her students. Even Principal Wood speaks highly of her! Ms. Wood said that Profe Handy was very thrilled to work at South Hadley! But that almost wasn’t the case. Back during the hiring process, Handy’s current position was only part-time and she turned down the job. But after a bit of time, Handy was offered a full time position and accepted.

We took the chance to interview some of Ms. Handy’s students, and did not hear a single bad word about her. She is a fun teacher, and some even consider her the best Spanish teacher they’ve had. 

What most people would not know/expect from Ms. Handy is that while she was born right next door in Connecticut, she had moved to Spain to teach people English. While there, she had a hands-on lesson in learning Spanish and returned to teach that here in Massachusetts. She still teaches English part-time in Northampton at the International Language Institute of Massachusetts, with her love of language (Spanish in particular) not stopping just at the high school. If given the option she said that she’d love to teach everything in Spanish.

Loved by many, students and staff alike hope to have her at the high school for many years to come. And when the Spanish class trip to Central America starts up again, Ms. Lonergan has expressed hopes that Ms. Handy will join her.