In a recent interview, we had the pleasure of speaking with Amy Eagen, an alumna of Northport High School and current school psychologist at Timber Point Elementary School in East Islip. With two children who are currently attending Northport High School, her connection to Northport is deep-rooted. We sat down with her to discuss her experiences at Northport High School and how they have shaped her life and career today.
If you were teleported to Northport High School right now, what would be the first place you would go to? Back in the 90s?
The band room… my friends and I would hang out there before school started in the morning.
The band was a huge part of who I was back in high school. I played the clarinet. Being involved in the music program was a huge part of high school for me. It definitely taught me leadership skills, since I was an officer in my senior year.
Were there any favorite foods from the high school that you had?
Yes. So back in the day, the school store at the end of the day and during lunch periods would sell frozen cookie dough. We clearly were not worried about salmonella back then, and that was like the favorite snack to get at the school store: frozen cookie dough.
When you went to Northport, did you have a favorite class or a favorite teacher?
So my favorite teacher was a social studies teacher, Mr. Eder, and he taught AP Euro and psychology, both of which I took with him. And I just, I loved his way of teaching, he was very friendly with the kids. He wasn’t young, he was definitely one of the older teachers, but he took the time to really get to know the kids and interact with them and I just loved going to his classes.
What is it like seeing your children go to the same high school that you went to? Is there any advice you’ve given them based on your experiences at NHS?
It’s been a little weird, I’m not gonna lie. I kind of expected that living in the same place where I grew up would be just a weird sensation to walk back into high school but as a parent. As far as any words of wisdom, Lily wanted to stay in band and I was really happy. I am making Jack do band. I wanted him to do it for one year, just so he, if he gave it up, he knew what he was giving up. That worked out, he really likes it so far. But I just, I wanted them to have that sense of community that I had.
Professionally, what were your goals during your high school years and how did those change over time?
So when I left high school, I wanted to be a math teacher. I went to college focusing on math and the way my college worked was that you couldn’t major in education. You had to major in something and education was the minor. I made it through freshman year and Calc 2 and thought maybe being a math teacher was not the way to go for me.
Luckily, the college I went to had a fantastic psychology department. I knew I always wanted to work with kids and that just really worked out for me. They had a great internship program where I went, so I was able to work in a school my senior year and just get a sense of what that would be like. They worked really hard to prepare you for grad school because psychology is not something that you leave college and you can get a job. You have to go further. So it definitely changed in college, but I knew I always wanted to work with kids.
Do you have anything that you would say to your high school self?
I don’t know. That’s a hard question. I think I would just say, keep doing what you’re doing and try not to worry so much about what other people think. I know parents tell this to kids a lot and we don’t listen, but it’s true. Try not to worry about what everybody else thinks and just focus on what you need to do.
