The first day Nikan Hodjat walked into a classroom in Jamaica Plain, he did not have a shred of experience in teaching. He improvised as he went. That day he simultaneously perceived two things. One was how much he loved teaching. The other was a recognition that both adults and students could feel like they were set up for failure in an environment like this.
The two public high schools Hodjat taught in faced many challenges. There was a general lack of resources. Classes were often overenrolled. Sometimes as Hodjat was teaching, the ceiling would peel off and fall onto students’ desks. The school didn’t have cooking equipment so it could only heat up shipped food. Many faculty left just shortly after joining.
The general population that attended the schools were high needs, academically or socioeconomically. There were instances of violence between students but also in the surrounding neighborhood that he couldn’t bear to recall. And Hodjat thinks that all of these have a domino effect on the mentality of everyone at the school. “You rarely felt as though you were in a place of equilibrium; it was always like, ‘How do I keep up with this tide of insanity that's washing over me?’” he said. However, as much as it was hard, he wouldn’t have traded the experience for anything else. It was a deeply fulfilling experience with memories of phenomenal students, whose diligence and aptitude were simply humbling.
Hodjat’s undergraduate degree was in Biology with a minor in African American studies. Not intending to teach at all, he applied to lab positions as he came out of college. But the positions all paid poorly. It was the year of 2001, and it happened that there was a severe teacher shortage in Boston, particularly in public schools. Hodjat was looking for independence, financial stability, and he didn’t want to end up in grad school so soon after finishing undergrad. So that was how he decided to join the faculty of a middle school within walking distance from his home, called the Mary Curley School.
Hodjat fondly recalls Vanessa, a student he taught across two different schools. Joyful, studious, and insightful, she was a class catalyst. But in 11th grade, she fell into depression after a breakup. Hodjat tried everything, but ultimately she graduated barely achieving mediocrity and went to work in retail.
Following economic hardship, Vaness reached back out to Hodjat. Eventually, she attended community college for a year, did very well, and went to Northeastern University. Now she is a practicing attorney with her own family. Just like Vanessa, non-linearity was a common feature in the journeys of many of Hodjat’s students. “Sometimes that’s what makes these journeys most valuable: that they’re experiencing hardship and adversity along the way,” he says.
For Hodjat, his professional journey has been a lot more linear; during his first year at the Mary Curley School, he realized teaching was not just a job for him but a vocation. A vocation, says Hodjat, by its etymology, means a calling. “You have to be called to teach, because it requires selflessness and a sense of altruism,” he says. He enjoyed interacting with students and seeing their growth. It made him feel like he was affecting some kind of change. Day after day, he would go home feeling good with the exhaustion from teaching and planning lessons, because that calling imbued him with a sense of purpose. Later, Hodjat went to graduate school to study education and has remained a teacher ever since.