Another teacher unfortunately leaving the den is Mrs. Amanda Goodenow, a beloved math teacher at Sahuaro. She has been recruited by Tanque Verde School District. “I did not seek a new job, but Tanque Verde made an offer that was too good to pass up,” she said. She plans to teach at Tanque Verde High School for Algebra 2 and BC Calculus.

Goodenow said, “I have completely enjoyed the wonderful students at Sahuaro, especially this year.  My calculus class this year was wonderful because I had most of the students for two years in a row.  This allowed me to really get to know all of them and really helped with the mathematics, what they knew or didn’t know, from last year to this year.  This was really helpful since COVID put a damper on what learning happened last year.”

One of her biggest accomplishments while working at Sahuaro has been all of the new programs she funded for the math department and getting new calculators for Sahuaro. One of her Donor Choose projects actually got picked up by BTS Army in honor of Elvis Duran “and ended up getting fully funded in a few minutes…that was a super exciting day,” she said.

“I don’t remember the first day at Sahuaro, but I can tell you that before my first day with Sahuaro students, you could find me in my classroom before teachers were back on campus.  I spent about a week before teachers arrived, hanging up my UA quilt, cleaning and organizing supplies.  I would affix fake red and blue flowers to the tops of pens and pencils for students to use if they needed,” she remembered. All of these additional touches gave her room a more homey-feel to it, and she wanted herself and her students to feel as comfortable as possible in her classroom.

For Goodenow, deciding to leave Sahuaro was a very difficult decision and actually took her over a month to figure out. She said, “I’m so proud of all of my students.  They have been a pleasure to teach and I will miss them a lot!  I hope they keep in touch because I expect great things from them!”

Goodenow won’t be doing the only missing, there are plenty of students that will miss her just as much if not more. Senior Kamryn Redlin said, “Her math puns are really funny, I’ll miss them.”

Junior Amber Landon said, “Mrs. Goodenow is truly an amazing teacher. She’s always had great patience and is extremely forgiving. You can tell she always has real enthusiasm when being asked for help. She’s had everything organized so well, so you always know what you’re doing for each unit.”

Alumni Zach Sierra said, “The only reason I ever passed PreCalc was because of her videos.”

Senior Grace Swenson said, “Mrs. Goodenow was an amazing teacher. She always made sure her students got the help they need. Her seating arrangements made sure that students were able to put their minds together to reach an answer. I loved her as a teacher and wish I would have gotten the last quarter of junior year with her.”

Senior Beth Seal said, “Mrs. Goodenow cares so much about her students and she always made us feel important.”

Alumni Brandon Barr said, “I had her for two years. She was a great teacher and as much as I hate math, she made it mostly understandable. I really liked her class.”

Goodenow has been a wonderful member of Sahuaro’s team of teachers and she will be truly missed. Best of luck with the new job!