Gerber was recognized for her efforts of being a mentor.
The Lenape Regional High School District has long been a backdrop in Christine Gerber’s life — in her childhood years she looked up to her father, who was a long-time educator at Shawnee High School, in her teen years she attended Shawnee, and in her adult life she returned to the district, becoming an educator Seneca since 2004.
Gerber is highly involved in the Seneca community, teaching accelerated pre-calculus, trigonometry and statistics college prep, support lab and algebra 2 college prep.
Gerber has been involved in the girls softball team since its start, with this marking her third year as head coach. She is the head boys swim coach, which she stumbled into after the team needed assistance almost 10 years ago.
Gerber is an advisor for the Goldies, an award show put on at the end of every year, highlighting athletes for their success throughout the season.
Above all else, Gerber has been recognized as employee of the month for her contributions as a mentor.
The guidance department identifies which students are considered “at risk” or are having a tough time passing classes. They are matched up with mentors to help get them back on track.
For Gerber, this has been a rewarding part of her involvement at the school. She said she first aims to gain the students’ trust, learn their personality and interests, and customize organization tactics for their needs.
“I’m their №1 fan. I’m the person they can talk to and they’re not getting disciplined from me. If they’re having a bad day, they can come hang out in my room during study hall, I just try to be the person they can go to if they get in a jam,” Gerber said. “It’s very, very rewarding when you see them finally get a good grade and they smile.”
Gerber uses her skills with mathematics to calculate a plan for the students and identify what grades they need to succeed.
“For the most part, they just need a little bit of help getting out of their own way and organizing themselves,” Gerber said.
Gerber was nominated as February employee of the month by her colleagues and was surprised with the award in front of her students. She said the award was unexpected, but her students made the moment so much more special.
“We always talk about ‘Seneca family,’ it’s kind of like our motto. It takes a village to raise a child, they say, it takes all of us to help these kids, and around here I think that everybody’s on the same page. Everybody’s got the end goal in mind — we all want to help kids, we all want to teach kids, we want to prepare them for life after Seneca.”
