Mrs. Benvenuto is officially back teaching after being on maternity leave since April. In April of last school year Mrs. Benvenuto had her first child and she and her husband named her Penelope. “My husband came up with this name and we both loved it and knew we wanted to name her this,” said Mrs. Benvenuto.
Being a first time mom can be a bit scary but also very rewarding. “It has made me want to be the best version of myself and the best mom to her,” said Mrs. Benvenuto. It is everything she ever imagined and more. Being a mother has been so enjoyable for her. She loves seeing Penelope learn new things. Mrs. Benvenuto is also enjoying the fact that she gets to raise a daughter that can be strong and independent. In the future she wants to raise Penelope to be a better person than she is. She also wants people to know that “girls can do anything they want to and that they are just as capable as men are,” said Mrs. Benvenuto. She wants to raise a daughter who knows this.
Being a mom also comes with many surprises. Something that surprised Mrs. Benvenuto was how much she Googled if something was normal or not. She also found herself Googling different mile stones that Penelope should be having. During her time off, she spent much of it focusing on her daughter, but also continuing working on her grad classes that she is currently taking. She will officially be done with all of those when Penelope turns a year old.
Coming back to school after being away for some was definitely an adjustment for Mrs. Benvenuto. She is certainly happy to be back and with the students again. “I definitely missed teaching more than I thought I would have while being off,” said Mrs. Benvenuto. Overall she is glad to be back and her first day back went very well. It was also very hard for her to come back because she had to leave Penelope. The hardest part for coming back was not being able to spend as much time with Penelope as she had been.
