Clark Magnet High School welcomes Violet Mardirosian into the Math program as the Integrated Math III/Precalculus Accelerated teacher for the 2021 to 2022 school year. Alongside teaching math, she is also the moderator for the Girls Build LA group at Clark that meets every Thursday. Mardirosian has been teaching for about 30 years among several schools including, San Fernando High School in the LAUSD district, Sunvalley Middle School, and at a Private Armenian School. 

When deciding to come to teach at Clark, Mardirosian was drawn in by the school’s reputation and was excited to work with the students in the program. Compared to the other schools she has taught,  Mardirosian vocalizes how she has, “never been to a school where the administration team runs the school so well. From the clean environment to the wonderful supportive staff that allows for the teaching in the classrooms to go on smoothly.” She stressed the importance of Clark’s welcoming environment which she is excited to be a part of. 

“Math is like my calling,” said Mardirosian, “I have come to work every morning for the past 30 years looking forward to my job and teaching math is exciting for me.” Mardirosian briefly went into engineering but wanted to teach math which she equally enjoyed so that she could still spend time with her family. She feels that math is one of those subjects that creates opportunities for everyone because it is something anyone can learn given enough time and patience. 

Mardirosian found her love of teaching when she was still a student . Her cousins who were teachers would tutor her and she would then use this knowledge to tutor her friends. From doing this, she realized her gift of being able to teach the tough content in a manner that everyone can understand.  Mardirosian became a teacher so that she could instill the love of math and learning into her students. She believes, “it is such a beautiful thing to want to learn new things.”

Mardirosian believes the teacher is what makes the student successful. Nobody comes to school wanting to fail, everyone comes to school to learn something.  Mardirosian realizes how important it is as a teacher to make the students feel as if they are understanding what is being taught. She said, “If the student feels that they are capable and smart, they will want to learn and do the work. The minute you start making kids feel like they are dumb, they turn off and begin to fail.” With this said, she has made it her goal to teach math concepts in different ways until everyone can understand. If something is not clicking with a student, she will work with them until it does. 

“I love to hear about the success of my students after highschool, when they go out into the world to do big things. Ultimately, I want my students to relax because highschool is such a small speck of their lifetime for it to cause so much stress,” expressed one of the new math department family members.