Ms. Bezanson: From Actuarial Scientist to Amazing Teacher

Ms. Bezanson: From Actuarial Scientist to Amazing Teacher

Ms. Bezanson (Born Melisa Bezanson) is a math teacher at Manchester High School West. At West, she teaches geometry, algebra 1B, and personal finance. She has worked multiple jobs before becoming a teacher and has always changed her mind about her future career path. However, from a young age, she has always had an interest in teaching, and she has become an amazing teacher here at Manchester High School West!

                    High School Life:

Graduated from Manchester High School West: 1994 Graduated from University of Hartford: 1998 Worked as an underwriter: 2000 - 2008 Started working at Manchester High School West: 2013

Ms. Bezanson mentioned that she has had many generations of her family that attended West. While in high school she joined many clubs including the Band, Yearbook, and Student Council. She mentioned how she only ever took level 3 classes because she was worried that her extracurricular activities would get in the way of her academics. However, she was able to obtain almost all A’s and B’s in all of her classes in high school.

University Life:

Ms. Bezanson changed her mind multiple times about university. First, she planned to attend the University of Connecticut. However, after visiting the campus, she changed her mind about attending that university. She then decided that she wanted to attend the University of Hartford. She only sent in 1 application letter to any university, and she chose to send the letter to this university. She was then accepted. She was even able to obtain a scholarship! Ms. Bezanson majored in Actuarial Science. She mentioned how the entire major was mostly in business and math classes.

 

First Jobs:

The first job Ms. Bezanson worked out of college was working an actuarial science job. In this job, you look at statistics and view any irregularities in the data. She mentioned how she detested this job and only worked as an actuarial scientist for 2 years. After this, she started working as an underwriter. In this job, you discuss the irregularities in data found by actuarial scientists and discuss the best way to find an acceptable middle ground for the data. Ms. Bezanson mentioned how she loved this job and worked as an underwriter for 8 years. Even though this was a job she liked, she decided that she wanted to do something else with her life and left the job in 2008. 

Working In Ireland:

After leaving her underwriter job in 2008, Ms. Bezanson had trouble finding another job. While on a family trip to Ireland, she was able to find a job working as a waitress in Ireland. She mentioned how this was a very strange turn for her career life, however, she mentioned that it was an interesting experience living there, and was able to meet her husband there. 

Becoming a Teacher:

After returning to America, Ms. Bezanson thought about the idea of becoming a teacher. She mentioned that from a young age, she had always had an interest in becoming a teacher. She started working as a substitute teacher throughout all schools in Manchester. Then, when one teacher had to leave for many months at the end of the year, she was able to work as a permanent substitute for that class. After this, she was asked to become a permanent teacher here at Manchester High School West. 

Working as a Teacher:

Even though Ms. Bezanson was offered a job at a different high school, she always mentioned how she would rather work at West. When Ms. Bezanson was offered a job at West, she immediately accepted. At West, she teaches geometry, algebra 1B, and personal finance. She mentioned how the personal finance class seems like a very necessary class to take. Personal finance skills are very useful to have, and that this class should be required to graduate. 

Ms. Bezanson has had a very interesting career path throughout her life. Her life could be completely different if anything different happened. If she went to the University of Connecticut to become an actuarial scientist, almost every event in her life would be completely different. Many of the choices she made throughout her life has made a very big impact on her life, but there is one significant thing that wouldn’t have happened. She would have never been able to be an amazing teacher at Manchester High School West.