Helen Nellie Dawson is a new math teacher at BFA.  Dawson uses her middle name as her everyday name. Nellie. 

Her favorite dessert is cheesecake and her favorite colors are blue and purple. 

Dawson is originally from western Massachusetts, and she grew up skiing in Vermont. 

As far as her family goes: “I have two brothers, but then I have 7 step-siblings, so my mom got remarried and my dad got remarried. So I have 4 step-siblings on my mom’s side and 3 step siblings on my dad’s side. So you know Christmases are busy, but it’s fun. They’re really good people,” Dawson said. 

She attended UVM for her teaching degree.  

“My strength and weakness is a similar thing.  I’m pretty young so I can kind of connect with students, and understand where they’re coming from, so I kind of give them too much slack,” Dawson said.

Dawson has some teaching experience she brings with her to BFA.  

“I worked at CVU for a year, but then I was at Lamoille Valley for 2 years,” Dawson said. 

Can she relate to BFA students going through a hard time? Yes she can.  Her advice is: 

“That they’re not alone. That most of the time there’s probably someone going through the same thing, whether it doesn’t have to be the exact same situation, but there’s somebody in this school, that’s probably going through something they’re going through.  . . . even though teachers seem scary, . . . we’re here because we care about them. We wouldn’t be in this profession if we didn’t,” Dawson said

Welcome to BFA, and the Mercury wishes you well.