TOWAMENCIN- From New Delhi to North Penn High School, Mrs. Indira Pothukuchi’s journey shows us that dreams can take us on unexpected journeys. 

Through the sacrifices of her middle-class family, Pothukuchi learned the value of education and the responsibility that comes with it, a lesson that continues to guide her to this day.

“I remember while growing up and attending school in India, we got big books of work, then I had to spend so many hours doing different types of problems and trying to get to know all different ways of solving them. It’s very different from the classes I teach now because I did all kinds of math every year of school. I had to pass final exams for each subject in order to move up to the next grade,” Pothukuchi explained.

“We used to play outside a lot, every morning I would walk 30 minutes to school. My elementary school through high school was all in the same complex. I was not given free education, and my parents had to pay. I came from a middle class family and they made an effort for us to go to school. We knew that we better study because somebody was paying for our education,” Pothukuchi stated.

Upon completing her education in India and graduating from college, Pothukuchi began her engineering career. However, when she became a mother and moved to Pennsylvania, she faced challenges securing engineering employment aligned with her skill set. To navigate this challenge, she decided to explore teaching.

“I came to the United States in 1992, first I lived in Huntsville,Alabama which was very challenging for me because the language there was so much different, especially because of their Southern accents. Then we moved to Hong Kong after a year,from there we moved to New Jersey, then Wisconsin and then we finally ended up staying in Pennsylvania,” Pothukuchi said.

“My journey to becoming a teacher is an interesting one. I started out as an engineer in India and worked in engineering for a number of years. Then when I had children I decided to stay home and raise them. After that I wanted to get back into engineering,, but we moved to Pennsylvania, however with my skill levels I couldn’t find any jobs,” Pothukuchi explained.

Pothukuchi’s passion for teaching mathematics was discovered during her time at Downingtown High School. She then pursued certification in teaching to further develop her skills in this area.

“I was first introduced to kids in special education so I worked a lot with them, mostly the ones who had learning disabilities. My first job in a high school, I needed to assist a student who had a traumatic brain injury in math, and I was like these are the subjects I can relate to and I wanted to get a way with children,” Pothukuchi stated.

“After this experience I went to Penn State to get my teaching certification in Math and Special Education cause that was a subject I was interested in. I then became a Special Education teacher at Springford High School, but I still wanted to teach Math, and that is how I found my job at North Penn,” Pothukuchi said.

Unlike most teachers who begin their duties in the Fall, Pothukuchi accepted her position at North Penn in January 2021.

“At North Penn, I started teaching Computer Programming, Geometry and Algebra 3 Trig. It was an adventure, because I was learning a new system, but the the students really helped and worked with me,” Pothukuchi explained.

Through her Indian education, she has attained a wealth of knowledge that has proven invaluable in her teaching. Her subject approach complements the American education system and adds her unique twist. Under her guidance, her students gain a deeper understanding of the world of numbers and equations.

“Something from my education in India that has helped me become a better teacher is just the in depth knowledge I have on a subject, here in America we touch a lot of topics but don’t fully go in depth on them. A helpful thing from American educated was presentation skills,which was not there when I was growing up and I would describe my teaching style as how I learned it back home, even though it has been so many years,” Pothukuchi stated.

Teaching in a multicultural environment can be both rewarding and challenging. An accent, while not a hindrance to communication alone, can sometimes make it difficult for students to understand the spoken word.

“My accent is definitely a barrier in my teaching,but because I learned to copy down what I’m saying on to the board so that the students have a visual and auditory. I think this helps them understand what I’m saying because they are also seeing information on the board. It’s really important that my students communicate with me if they are having a hard time understanding what I am saying,something that I made clear since the start of the school year,” Pothukuchi said.

In a school with over 3,000 students, it’s great to see the celebration of diverse cultures, mainly when these festivities provide memories of home.

“One of the main reasons I loved growing up in India was because of all the festivals we use to celebrate. It’s so nice to see them being celebrated now in America,and especially at North Penn,” Pothukuchi exclaimed.

Ultimately, it is not always the path we choose that defines us but rather the impact we make along the way.

“I only started teaching 10 years ago,but this is a wonderful experience and I wouldn’t change it for anything,” Pothukuchi stated.