A new but also familiar face in room 55, math teacher Raquel Riedel has returned to Hoover after eight years to make an impact on her student’s lives.

Mrs. Riedel originally started teaching at age 32. Her first full time teaching position with Fresno Unified was at Hoover. She taught at Hoover from 2005-2013. In between her times teaching at Hoover, she worked as an AVID employee as well as a vice principal.

Those jobs were great, but no job was like the one she first fell in love with, teaching.

“It’s the last chance we get as educators to change student’s lives. We’re the last stop. If we don’t do it now, I don’t know what will happen,” Mrs. Riedel declared.

Prior to teaching Mrs. Riedel was a freshman in college. She got pregnant, dropped out, and became a stay-at-home mom for about nine years. Eventually she decided to go back to college to get a math degree and become a teacher.

“Really I was just a mom, but I did do some various coaching,” she added.

Now back at Hoover and better than ever, Mrs. Riedel is enjoying interacting with her students and coworkers, solving math problems, and inspiring her students.

She wants the students at Hoover to know that, “People won’t remember you for being popular, how many sports you play, or your GPA, but people will remember you for being nice, kind, and being a better person.”

Mrs. Riedel will teach both math skills and how to be kind as she continues instructing here at Hoover this year.