Ms. Candice Newman is an inspiration to many of her students. With her witty jokes and her passion for teaching her Earth and Space Science classes, she moves students every day, so much so that she has been a nominee for the Teacher of the Year award countless times and has also won the award.
Newman has taught at Rancho Cucamonga High School for a while, with 17 years on campus and 19 years in the teaching profession overall. Her urge to make a difference inspired her to teach.
“I love getting to watch my students grow up and evolve, and meet their potential,” Newman said. “When someone does tell me that it was something I said, taught, or just a moment they had in class, that it had an impact on them, it makes all the difference in the world.”
Newman first got into teaching Earth and Space Science after she was asked if she would be interested in teaching the subject. She felt that taking all the other sciences, such as biology, chemistry, and physics, and applying them to the study of Earth was amusing. She said she also wanted to make it more applicable to her students to get them thrilled about the Earth.
“She’s really engaging when she teaches,” sophomore Lola Reyes, who’s currently in Newman’s prep class, said. “I have one of the best grades in that class out of my whole schedule because she makes everything really easy to understand.”
Reyes further explained that she’s grateful to have Newman as her teacher and that she’s great at her way of teaching others. Reyes said she is also appreciative of Newman’s efforts to make everyone feel like they have a second home at school.
“She’s always there for me, even if she doesn’t know it,” Reyes said. “Going into her class makes my day a little better, so I think it’s good for everyone to have a teacher like that. I’m happy she can be my teacher.”
In addition to her current students, many of Newman’s past students said they also appreciated having her as their teacher during their freshman or sophomore years. They’ve recognized her dedication to her job and passion to make an impact.
“As a teacher, she went above and beyond, so she was more like a mentor and sort of like a school parent,” senior John Atienza, one of Newman’s former students, said. “Many high school classes are just coming in and leaving, like you’re not connected with other classmates. I loved how her classroom felt like a family.”
Newman has such a positive impact on her students that some of her former students tend to come back to Newman’s class after they’ve graduated and share their life experiences with her. Some of these experiences Newman has gotten to take part in.
“It’s especially fun when I see [students] as adults in the real world, and I get to keep up with [them], go to [their] weddings and baby showers. It’s super fun to me,” Newman said.
One student in particular who has stood out to her was when she taught chemistry.
“When I was teaching chemistry, I ended up having a student who was my son’s very first babysitter,” Newman said. “She’s literally like a sister to me, and I’ve been to her wedding and baby shower. Now I’m watching her raise her own babies.”
That specific student is RCHS teacher Ms. Maeghan Kaufusi, who ended up having Newman as a part of her life growing up.
Newman took part in Kaufusi’s important life events, and the two still keep in touch today.
“I was a sophomore when I was in her chemistry class around 2013 or 2014,” Kaufusi said. “I loved her class; she always pushed us to be our best, always challenged us academically, and as a person, she was so funny.”
The influence of Newman inspired Kaufusi to be a teacher who also teaches earth and space science.
“She inspired me to be a teacher and inspired the type of teacher that I wanted to be,” Kaufusi said. “It was strongly about building relationships and making sure we’re pushing our students to be academically their best.”
Furthermore, Newman’s dedication to doing her job goes deeper than just teaching kids in a classroom. As Atienza said, she’s like a “mentor” and a “school parent” to many. Her ultimate goal for her students is wanting them to be self-assured.
“I want my students to be comfortable with being themselves,” Newman said. “I hope my teaching makes them excited to want to learn more and explore information on their own.”
With love and dedication to teaching, Newman’s work truly paid off for her. She creates a safe space and a family within her classroom that her current or former students can all come back to just to talk, laugh, and connect in room G108.
“There are teachers here that have been here for a long time who are genuinely passionate about it,” Newman said. “It’s working with kids that keeps us young, and continues to have that passion ignited, and we’re lucky to be around our students.”
