With five years of teaching experience, Noah Kaminsky is eager to join the Middle Division Science Department to teach seventh grade. “I’m looking forward to being a part of a collaborative science team that does something really great for the students,” he said. Kaminsky grew up in Riverdale and attended Cornell University, where he majored in the Science of Earth Systems with a focus on geochemistry and received a master’s degree in teaching. His father is a research scientist and his mother practices intellectual property law for chemical inventions. “I don’t think there was ever any question about what I was going to do with my life, because science has always been something that’s been a family value,” Kaminsky said. Although Kaminsky didn’t plan on becoming a teacher, he harbored a love for teaching from a young age. “I’ve always been able to communicate with young people well,” he said. After receiving his master’s degree, Kaminsky began teaching science at a public school in East Harlem. “It was a classic inner-city teaching experience — high-need school, limited resources,” he said. “It was tough, but it taught me a lot about management and how schools, staff, and students operate.” Kaminsky then taught at Hunter College High School for four years. Outside of teaching, he coaches and writes about track and field and coaches and trains at a pole vaulting club. Kaminsky is looking forward to working in the neighborhood in which he grew up, and he is excited about the school in particular. “Ultimately, Horace Mann is a really well-rounded and well-respected school,” he said. “Everyone who I interviewed with was really friendly and welcoming, so it seemed like a really nice place to be.”