From creating homemade doll houses from scratch to teaching her students how to scale shapes correctly, Etowah’s new math teacher Susan Arena can do it all. After living in New York City and working in the garment industry, Arena has settled on what she is most passionate about: teaching.

“I had taught at River Ridge High School for four years when I practically lived right behind Etowah’s football field. Even coming from New York City, driving through downtown Woodstock to get there was making me crazy,” Arena, said.

Arena loves the open campus at Etowah, and loves that students can engage with each other between classes. Knowing how friendly the atmosphere of the community was, Arena was excited to become a part of it.

“I knew I wanted to end up teaching here.  I live in the community, and I am very aware of the student body. Even some of my neighbors came here. It is a family that I always wanted to be connected to,” Arena said.

Arena claims that she loves the connection the students have with Mr. Ball, and how welcoming the students are towards his attention. She laughs at the memory that she has of Mr. Ball dressed as a sumo wrestler during the recent pep rally.

“The relationship that the students have with the administration here really reflects on everything at Etowah,” Arena said.

During her spare time, Arena puts her math teaching skills to use by fashioning dollhouses.  Scaling the measurements of the doll, she measures it to a true scale factor, as if a real person were to live in it.

“I had the creative juices flowing through me after being in the garment business, I needed to find some place to focus my creativity,” Arena said.

Arena says that her hobby started when her daughter was little. She has now created several homemade dollhouses.

“I sketch it, measure it to scale; that is where the math comes in, and then I build, which is actually the least part of the time. The finishing work is what I really want it to look like a true house,” Arena said.

Arena is skilled in both math and creativity, and loves to see her students become skilled in those areas, as well.