During the school year, while the sun is rising and students are just waking up, most teachers are en route to H-F.

Most, excluding English teacher Janine Stroemer that is.

On her busiest days, Stroemer is at school before the sun has even thought about rising.

Stroemers’Group Interpretation production, The Bacchae won 3rd in Sectionals and again brought attention to all the hard work that she puts into her program.

She teaches English 2, Intro to Theatre, and Speech when it runs. However, her work doesn’t just end there.

Stroemer is the Captain of the Speech team, a competitive forensics team that competes from August to February.

This year, the Speech team won their Regionals and went onto their Sectionals with a competitor in every event.

“I really love what these competitive activities bring to students,” Stroemer said. “There is so much here.

Students often find themselves through literature or “living through others eyes” or sometimes writing about something they believe in.”

Stroemer has put in more than a decade of work and devotion, having worked here for 11 years.

“Stroemer is definitely the hardest worker at H-F, mostly because she gives so much year round,” senior Jabari Khaliq said. “That woman is at H-F every night working. If she leaves H-F at 9 p.m., she’s leaving early.”

Khaliq is this year’s President of the Speech team and knows better than anyone of all the work that Stroemer puts in for her students.

“Stroemer pushes all of us to be better than we were the day before and she does it with tough love,” Khaliq said. I’m a stronger person because of her effort.”

Junior Aliaa Eldabli says she doesn’t think that she would’ve survived high school without Stroemer.

“As my speech coach and sophomore English teacher, I can honestly say that she is one of very few people I have genuinely learned tremendously from,” Eldabli said.

Both Eldabli and Khaliq say that if Stroemer was able to possess one superpower, it’d be mind-reading or psychic abilities

“She can read anyone like a book. Also, pretty sure she can pre-determine the future for many people,” Eldabli said. “100% equivalent Superwoman.”

However, Khaliq thinks that people falsely judge her character.

“I know she has this rough exterior and people see the curly hair and the sharp tongue and probably think that this woman is crazy,” Khaliq said.

Despite this characterization, Khaliq says that through that rough exterior, she is like a mother: caring and thoughtful when it matters.

Khaliq says that he’s seen her cry with students and on other occasions do what she had to do to make them laugh. He’s also witnessed her buy food with money out of her own pocket for the entire Speech team, even if they didn’t earn it.

“She is very demanding, yes, but deep down, she is called ‘Mama’ for a reason. She puts her all into her students and I think that’s truly out of the love to see us soar,’ Khaliq said. “Just like how mamas should.”