Educational assistant Michele Hinde works in the math IMC and is constantly running copies, getting supplies, helping students, filling in for teachers, and running errands. However, while Hinde is a well-known figure of the IMC, most students are unaware of her background.

Hinde began working in a library at the age of 14. She then worked as a lifeguard, and in college, she worked in a lab testing different descaling methods. She also worked at McDonald’s and taught sailing, snorkeling, and diving. After graduating from college, Hinde worked on submarines, with reactor plant and engine room designs and did a bit of naval architecture.

“When my husband graduated from grad school and got his doctorate, we moved to New Mexico, and I started there as an occurrence investigator; but when they found out my submarine background I ended up working for dynamic experimentation,” Hinde said.

Hinde also said that she and her husband are very grateful to have their two kids, Christopher, who is 21, and Brin who is 18.

“Christopher was born perfectly normal, but he had a few viruses when he was a baby and then all of a sudden he stopped developing. That’s when they put him in the basket of cerebral palsy, with motor deficiencies, because his motor skills just didn’t develop the way they should,” Hinde said. “Brin spent her first three months in the hospital, she had had a heart surgery and stomach surgery and thumb surgery and ear surgeries, a lot of surgeries. So she had been through a lot.”

Despite some of these setbacks, Hinde’s children are still involved in many activities.

“Christopher is an Eagle Scout and he’s done all kinds of stuff. When he was a kid he did horse-back riding, and he did baseball, and he does swimming,” Hinde said. “He’s done a lot of neat things, especially through scouting, and Brin has done dance, she’s done swimming, she’s done soccer and baseball, and both my kids are pretty cool. I feel very fortunate to have my kids, they keep us busy.”

Hinde said her decision to come to Westside revolved around her kids.

“I quit work after my kids started having all of their disabilities and issues and we moved to Maryland because it was a lower altitude for my son, for the oxygen,” Hinde said. “We lived in Maryland for 10 years, and then we purposely looked for a high school that was inclusive for kids with disabilities, we looked nationwide, we looked worldwide, and we chose Westside because it checked all the boxes of the things we were looking for to help kids with disabilities.’

Many of the math and science teachers said they are grateful for Hinde’s constant hard work and energy.

“Mrs. Hinde makes my job easier by doing small projects, big projects, basically helping me out or helping any of the other teachers out,” Math Instructor Stephen Emmerich said. “She does some basic office work, like at the start of the year, putting new names in the file folders so we can be better organized, maintaining our supply closet and being a gatekeeper of the IMC and keeping track of who’s coming and going, who’s at assigned mods, and that kind of stuff.”

Hinde has been working at Westside for five years and said that she hopes to stay as long as she is capable, useful, and welcome.