Meet the Teacher

Hi! My name is Rachel de Araujo, but you can all call me Ms. D. My birthday is February 27^th. I live with my wonderful boyfriend Joe, who has three kids Gavin, Elle and Lila and together we have a son Lucas. I started here at JFK in February 2012 and could not be happier. For this semester, I will be your teacher and I am excited to help you make it through the next few months. As well as, prepare you for the real world… because I hope you know, high school is really just a small part of life.

My Childhood… I was born in my parent’s bedroom, on a stretcher, delivered by EMTs in Edison, NJ. I have an older brother Ben, a half-brother Isaac, a stepbrother Brian and a stepsister Kerri. My parents got divorced when I was 7 and they have lived 1 mile away from each other my whole life. From age 7-17 soccer and softball was my life. When I was a kid I wanted to be a vet, which changed to delivering babies, which changed to a wedding planner, which obviously changed again to finally becoming a Family and Consumer Science teacher by day and a hairdresser by night.

My Education… I graduated from Edison High School in 2004. I received a full ride to the University of Delaware for playing softball, but turned it down and attended Piscataway Vo-Tech to study Cosmetology… life is pretty funny sometimes. I graduated from beauty school in 2005, got hired at a salon in Metuchen and started waitressing tables at a restaurant in Piscataway. A year later, still keeping these two jobs, I decided to go to college at Middlesex Community College, for a degree in Hotel, Restaurant, Management, the goal here was to open my own salon and restaurant named Beautini… which later in life, I sort of did! After 3 years of MCC, I continued working the two jobs and started commuting to Montclair State University to obtain my Bachelor’s degree in Food and Nutrition Science. In May of 2011, I graduated from MSU, that summer I took the Praxis for Family and Consumer Science and passed on the first try, even though when I walked out of that test I was convinced I had failed. After that I needed to take Alternate Route for Education classes at Brookdale Community College. A few months later, that was completed and I received a teaching job at Abraham Clark High School in Roselle as the culinary teacher. Three months after that, Mrs. Wandras called my cell phone and asked if “I would like to teach at John F. Kennedy high school.” So here I am now… currently, the Parenting Education and Culinary teacher at JFK, a hairdresser and a housewife, I can honestly say life is amazing.