Math can be an intimidating subject, but one new teacher is working to change that. First year teacher here at RHS, Mrs. Sangeetha Balasundaram, or Mrs. Sangi has been working hard to help her Pre-Algebra and Math 1 students in the 2025-206 school year. Mrs. Sangi is a kind, welcoming, and hard-working teacher, who is loved by her students.
Mrs. Sangi is known by her students as a new first year teacher, but her story is much more intriguing. Sangi is from India, where she did her masters in mathematics and her bachelor’s degree in education as a teacher, and worked as a developer for five years prior. Then, she worked as a high school teacher for two years. Mrs. Sangi describes her life as a “life like a gypsy” since she has traveled to many different countries. She lived in the UK, Scotland, Brunei (next to Malaysia), and finally in the U.S for the past nine years. Sangi says that she loved living all over the world because it is what makes her more human.
Sangi has always known she wanted to be a teacher from a young age. She states,” I’ve always wanted to be a teacher, my inspiration has always been my mom. She was a high school teacher, who was a state topper out of six, ranked third from India.”Watching her mom excel in academics and teaching only inspired her to become just like her since her childhood. Although she had wanted to be a teacher since she was a child she was selected to become a software engineer and took a diversion, until she moved to the UK and pursued her dream of becoming a teacher. Her career led her to becoming a teacher, to becoming a principal of a school, then starting over from scratch in California.
Mrs. Sangi describes her teaching journey as an awesome experience overall. Sangi explains.” It was an awesome journey because it gives me an abundance of satisfaction when I see people who struggle, I can help them to understand.” She states how, “ Teaching is something that I’m going to be putting my soul into, and I’m learning along with them, and I have to keep growing and improving.”
Outside of school, you can find Mrs. Sangi reading a book, she refers to herself as a “binge reader”. She loves reading romantic novels and mystery. Reading in both of her languages, English and Tamil, helps her to focus and learn new words in English. Along with that, she states how it also changes her perspective and opinions on life changes because she can see different perspectives through other people’s eyes. “ Reading can offer many different perspectives to learn from and it is really just a big learning experience.”
Many students in Mrs. Sangi’s class all describe it as welcoming, fun, and a great place to learn. One of her second period, Math 1 students, Rickey Ames, states, “ My favorite part about Mrs. Sangi’s class is the atmosphere. I feel like she always brings this warmth and comfort in the classroom,” he adds,” She’s always like a little ball of sunshine, and whenever she’s here, she’s just a ball of sunshine.”
One piece of advice Mrs. Sangi would give to her students just to really be responsible individuals. She explains how, when we make mistakes you must accept it so that you can change it and keep growing; however old you are, we’ve all made mistakes and it is very important that we learn from them to grow. “ Besides the point of being a math teacher and grading, I just want my students to be responsible individuals because responsibility is what helps them to grow in life. I don’t want them to struggle, I just want them to have a happy and peaceful life, so they should just try to become as responsible as they can be.”
With her passion and dedication, it is clear that Mrs. Sangi is already making a positive impact in and out of the classroom.
