by Jen Myers

Sine, cosine, tangent – those words may trigger panic for some of us as we think back to the confusion we felt in high school math class.

But, in room 702 of Lowell High School’s McDonough Freshman Academy, teacher Tom Heywosz helps students make sense of it all, patiently floating from desk to desk ensuring each student understands the concepts and how to use their new graphing calculators. When they try to change the subject by striking up a conversation about the reality show “Love is Blind,” he laughs and tells them he hasn’t seen any of the seasons, and brings the discussion back to triangles.

Heywosz teaches two freshman Algebra I and two Sophomore Geometry classes in the Latin Lyceum and one non-Lyceum class that changes from year to year. This year it is Algebra 2.

The Charlton native came to Lowell to earn both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Math from UMass Lowell. While that certainly sounds like someone who has been committed to Math for a long time, he wanted to teach History before taking AP Statistics in high school. After taking stats, Heywosz was lasering in on becoming a statistician.

“When I went to UML, I was a Math major with a stats concentration but also enrolled in the UTeach Program as I knew for a long time I wanted to teach,” he said. “I taught some classes through the program and kept with it. Stats also was too much computer work.”

He has been in his current position since the 2021-2022 school year, but bounced around in various roles since first coming to LHS in 2018 to complete his student teaching requirements.

“I always found the students at Lowell High so personable and hilarious,” Heywosz said. “I liked the people and I liked being part of the community I lived in.”

For some, the thought of teaching freshmen is daunting because it is such a time of transition, but Heywosz enjoys it.

“I think freshmen are funny,” he said. “They still are young so they sometimes do things in class that make me laugh because of how nonsensical it is to me as not a freshman in high school. It helps me put things in perspective.”

Heywosz has the right mindset for teaching freshmen, understanding the social and emotional changes they are going through and working to not only teach them Math, but to help them grow as people.

“Freshmen are unique in that they are coming off being the eldest of their schools and are now the youngest; They are also transitioning from many different middle schools of varying sizes to Lowell High,” he said. “So for freshmen, the social skills and high school student skills they need to learn are just as important as the content you are teaching. It can be a lot some days, but in the end, the difference between when they come to us in August versus when they leave in June is outstanding.”

He said when they leave his class he wants them to always be themselves, but also to remember they are living in a world with others.

“I want students to feel confident that they express themselves and acknowledge where they are strong and where they need some support or guidance,” Heywosz said. “However, they need to know that they still will need to interact and work with others on a regular basis. Having both of those in mind will only help them going forward.”

Andrea Gobbi, the Lowell High School Assistant Principal who oversees the Freshman Academy, said in addition to teaching, Heywosz assists the clerk with morning arrivals, fields parent phone calls, and greets students and parents as they enter the FA. He is also responsible for recruiting eighth-graders to the Latin Lyeum, facilitating the application and testing process.

“Tom is an exceptional educator who goes above and beyond the call of duty as a teacher in the Freshman Academy,” Gobbi said. “He actively makes Math content come alive for his students in a way that makes them excited to come to his classes everyday. When you enter his classroom, you can see the engagement of both the classroom teacher and his students, and you instantly feel a sense of community within the room. He continually spreads a sense of joy and positivity among all members of the Freshman Academy community.”

On Thursday afternoons, Heywosz can be found with members if the Lowell High School Rainbow Alliance, a group he has been working with since 2020. The Alliance is committed to making LHS an informed and inclusive environment by opposing discrimination through education, support, advocacy, and community so that students of every gender, sex, orientation, and identity can freely be their authentic selves.

The group has partnered with the Lowell Community Health Center and the Center for Hope and Healing to help support LHS students, shares out resources with LHS staff regarding LGBTQIA+ students, and runs LGBTQIA+ programming for the school.

Heywosz said that even though there have been many positive changes for people in the LGBTQIA+ community since he graduated from high school a decade ago, including the legalization of same sex marriage, an increase in representation in the media, and a higher level of acceptance for students who identify as LGBTQIA+, there is still a lot work to do.

“There is still a lot of work that needs to be done, particularly around long-standing stereotypes and for anyone who identifies as Trans or gender non-conforming, especially in relation to language usage,” he said. “Additionally, we need to keep aware of the gains that have been made over the course of this generation so that we know when they are being challenged or potentially lost. The last thing the LGBTQIA+ community needs is to lose the rights of self-expression so many fought so hard for.”

All About Tom Heywosz

Hobbies: Baking and making desserts, reading, competition tv shows, some games and crafts, going for walks in nature
Dream Vacation: Really any place I have not been. I have a lot of the world left to explore
Favorite song to sing in the car: “Strong Enough” – Cher
Favorite meal: Chicken and Dumplings
Favorite snack: Chex Mix
Favorite Movie:  Sister Act
Favorite Book: Circe by Madeline Miller
Favorite TV Show: RuPaul’s Drag Race
Favorite Fictional Character:  Blanche Devereaux