Teacher Feature: PK
Photo by Cora Kuhlenbeck
Grace Strelow
Ms. Komatz, better known as PK, is a math teacher at Hamilton High School, and she has been teaching for 38 years, starting her career here at Hamilton in 1983. For her educational background, PK attended Port Washington High School, got her undergrad at UW-Oshkosh (double-major in mathematics and speech communication) and a Masters in Education from Cardinal Stritch University, along with other various post graduate credits.
As a fixture here at Hamilton, PK has had a large influence on other teachers, especially her fellow Math department members. AP Calculus teacher Mr. Steve Wunschel states, “ When it comes to describing PK, she has to have the biggest heart. She cares more about her students and coworkers than most anyone I know.”
A fellow colleague and Communication Arts teacher at Hamilton, Mrs. Debbie Figueroa added, “PK is an integral part of the HHS family, the heartbeat. She knows your name, your family members, and through inquisitive questioning, all the underlying passions one embraces. Her interest is genuine. Her heart is on her sleeve. Hamilton is a better place because PK is at the nucleus of it.”
Read more to hear PK’s answers to Charger Press’s interview:
What’s your favorite college memory? Where did you go to college?
No specific event...UW-Oshkosh
What song(s) have you completely memorized?
Most Christmas carols
What skill would you like to master?
Never having a dessert flop..OR never opening my mouth and putting my foot in it!
Do you play any music during work time, if so what kind of music, if not why don’t you?
ALWAYS during prep time...most days before and after school...favorite stations Life 102.5 and K-Love...current favorite is Danny Gokey’s ”New Day”
If you could pass on any wisdom to your students, what would it be?
NO ONE IS PERFECT...learn from your mistakes and don’t beat yourself up when you make them...and remember that others are human too
What is the best advice you have received?
The same that I would pass on to my students...so much easier said and heard than done
What is the weirdest thing you have done to get your students attention?
It’s not weird...the kids LOVE my singing and dancing (don’t know why Ms. Mascitti hasn’t drafted me for Show Choir :) )
What do you do on Friday nights after work?
Weather permitting, take our dog for a walk
What age/decade or time period would you want to live in?
The present is good...the grass is not greener elsewhere
What’s your claim to fame?
I hand out GREAT stickers
What is something you collect?
If you walked into my house, you would certainly believe it’s dust bunnies and cobwebs...my closet says HHS shirts (seriously, I believe I counted a few years ago and the total was over 60)
What would your perfect room/ classroom look like?
Kids without masks, partnering up (since I know that collaboration is HUGE)...and I’d have a heating system that, as Mr. DeJarlais has noted, does not yield a room that experiences four seasons within one hour AND my Class of 2021 Senior Picture Map would be FULL
What subject did you enjoy the most when you were in school (besides what you are currently teaching)?
Social Studies...even contemplated making that my second major, but I loved forensics and my Intro to Government and Politics Professor wasn’t inspiring
If you could meet anyone in history who would be and why?
Simon Peter...the questions that I would ask…
Who are your teacher besties?
The math department ROCKS...they have so saved me...from tech support to friendship...and those folks in the Applied Engineering Department...well, sometimes it feels like family
If you won 100 million dollars what would you buy first and why?
?????
What’s the funniest or most embarrassing thing that’s happened to you as a teacher?
On my first day with students, geometry class, I introduced myself with my first name...and then later that week I was stopped in the hall for a pass
If you could teach any other subject what would it be?
Theoretically I could teach public speaking…
What’s a surprising fact about you that students don’t know?
My mother-in-law (age 94) was the secretary to the first superintendent of the Hamilton School District...even though HHS didn’t exist yet, she wrote the letters to teachers asking them to apply to the new district
What's your favorite age group to teach (freshman, sophomore, etc.)?
My advisees would be upset if I said anything but freshmen...and most of my AP Stats students know that I LOVE collecting their senior pictures...and I will be upset if they don’t finish strong
