What is your name and pronouns?
“Sharon Swenson, she/her.”
What is your position at Lincoln?
“I am a PE teacher, .5, meaning I only work on B days for Sports and Games.”
What made you want to come to Lincoln?
“Last year was my first full year of teaching [at a middle school in Beaverton]. It was just a temporary position, so this year I had to find something new, and I wanted to go to high school because I want to coach eventually. Obviously, Lincoln’s a great school; it’s beautiful. And even though I live in Beaverton, it’s actually super close. It takes me 13 minutes to get here. Before [teaching at Beaverton], I had done a lot of subbing, and I had an emergency teaching license. I taught at Lakeridge Middle School. “
Where were you before this?
“Before this, I worked at Nike for 14 years and decided I wanted to do something different. The last job that I had before I left was product management director for tennis apparel. I left Nike in 2021. I’ve only been [teaching] for about three years.”
Why did you decide to go into the education field?
“I had worked on a lot of sports at Nike and did a lot of coaching. I was like, ‘Oh, PE teacher was kind of the natural next step.’ I had to go back to school and get my master’s degree.”
What do you do in your free time?
“Sports photography is my latest thing that keeps me busy. I’ve done Beaverton football and a lot of baseball. My son is a freshman at Southridge, and he plays baseball, so this weekend I shot a football game on Friday, went to Fastpitch Cares [softball tournament] in Hillsboro and did two softball games there on Saturday, and then two baseball games on Sunday with my son. Youth sports are normally where I can be found.”
What are you looking forward to this school year?
“I always like making relationships with students, and I’m pretty low-key. One thing I like about sports and games is that you get exercise, but you’re having fun. You don’t even feel like you’re exercising, but … I think the benefits of sports for young people go beyond just exercise. There are so many other skills that you acquire, like teamwork and communication and strategy and problem solving and decision making. “
What are your goals for this year?
“They always say your first year of teaching is crazy and insane, and you just have to get through it. I think now, coming around into my second year, I’ve worked out a lot of the kinks, so I’m looking forward to getting into more of the rhythm of how I run the classes and what works and what doesn’t work. I love to do PE games like the Chipotle challenge. [I want to] keep it fun, but try to incorporate stuff that is gonna give people those [life] skills.”