Alumni Snapshot: Jenna Jendre

Name: Jenna Jendre

NHA School Attended: Queen's Grant Community School, Class of 2012

College Attended: University of North Carolina, Greensboro, Class of 2020

Degree: Bachelor’s degree; pursuing master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction

Employer and Position: Pre-K Teacher at Orange City School District, Ohio

Tell us about your journey since you graduated from NHA: After graduating from Queen's Grant, I went on to high school and college. I knew I wanted to be a teacher since kindergarten because of my amazing kindergarten teacher. I wanted to be just like her. I graduated in 2020 during COVID and applied to work at Queen's Grant to be full circle since I enjoyed it so much and knew a lot about NHA because my mom was a principal at two of the schools, Queen's Grant and Matthews Charter Academy. My sister also went through NHA and worked at Queen's Grant alongside me. I taught 2nd grade for a year before moving to my dream of kindergarten next to my kinder teacher. She was and is the best mentor. I taught kindergarten for a year before deciding to go back to 2nd grade for 3 years. Unfortunately, I had to move to Ohio and leave NHA behind, but I currently am teaching pre-K while I get my master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction in hopes that I can join NHA again under the Curriculum and Instruction math team.

Which Moral Focus virtue has best shaped your life and why? Perseverance. Throughout my whole school career, I embodied perseverance because things got more challenging as I continued. There were times I wanted to quit because it was too hard, but I just kept telling myself, "I can do hard things." Now as a teacher, not a day goes by where I don't tell a kid not to give up, to persevere - even teaching 4-year-olds these big words and virtues.

How did your NHA schools help prepare you for your academic and life experiences? I relied a lot on the moral focus virtues when going through academics and life experiences. The rigor in the curriculum helped prepare me for my studies ahead. When I chose to work at my NHA alma mater, I used what I learned when I was young and stories from when I attended Queens Grant to relate to my kids, and they were always in awe that I was just like them.

Is there anything else you'd like to share? I am always grateful for my time learning and teaching with NHA and the community of friends and mentors that I have met throughout the years.