1 in 2000: Karen Kinel, "costume connoisseur"

Alyssa Chen Features Editor

Whether she’s incorporating her dogs’ names into word problems or fully committing to a Halloween costume by painting herself green, mathematics teacher Karen Kinel has created a name for herself over the last 20 years while teaching freshmen, sophomores

“She values teaching students how to derive formulas and methods of solving problems as opposed to just giving the method [outright] and telling the students to gure it out,” he said. “I'm glad that she does that because that's something I really value as well.”

Longtime colleague of Kinel’s and DaVinci mathematics teacher Hayley Donati said Kinel’s enthusiasm for teaching mathematics problems in the courses that she teaches really make you think, and knowing that these are problems we should be challenging our students with and holding them to high standards has helped me,” she said. “ ere have actually been some problems [where I go] ‘oh, that's a cool way to solve that.’”

Since she was in high school, Kinel’s passion for teaching mathematics exists alongside her love for dressing in vibrant clothing and jewelry. Kinel said that she has used styling as a means of self-expression throughout her day-to-day life.

“[Fashion is] just a way of being an individual and showing my personality that I might not be able to do otherwise in front of a classroom, or just in life,” she said. “I actually make a lot of my own jewelry to make sure everything matches. Rings, earrings, about 80 percent of the jewelry I wear, I made myself.”

Abu Amara said that Kinel’s lively out ts were a surprise every time he walked into class ts] were beautiful. ey were an inspiration. You would walk into class and erent, color coordinated, t on every day, and you never knew what to expect,” he said. “Some days it'd be bright yellow, some days it’d be bright green,

Donati said that Kinel’s shoe collection is impressive both in quantity and in organization, as the shoes are separated by style and recorded in a meticulous, yet brilliant system.

“She loves shoes. She tries not to repeat shoes that she wears to work, and she has them organized and categorized. It's like a real life

‘Clueless’ reference, with Cher’s digital closet,” Donati said.

“She's logged [and numbered] which shoes are in which boxes. She has pictures [of the shoes] on her iPad… and then she nds the picture she wants and it tells her which box the shoes are in.”

Sophomore class o cer Clio McAneny said that Kinel’s dedication to matching with the themes for spirit days has been greatly motivating and reassuring.

“Being a class o cer, I look for people that have the spirit during Spirit Weeks, [and] when I see her I'm like, ‘wow, someone actually saw our post [and] someone actually listened to it,’” she said. “I really appreciate her for that.”

Sophomore Noah Huckman, a student in Kinel’s sophomore honors mathematics class, said that her creative out ts transform the class atmosphere.

“When she's sitting over there in the corner, dressed as a dragon, the environment in the room is de nitely much lighter.”