Passion For

Teaching.

   Jamie O'Malley has a passion for teaching.  When she first considered a career she thought of teaching.  At that time, choosing a teaching career was considered not profitable.  She was talked out of it and pursued other goals.  She came back to her first love of teaching because she found it to be more rewarding than anything else she had ever done.  Jamie gets excited when she is able to spark interest in math and science in her students.  If she finds that a student is having difficulty understanding a principle or concept, she will continue to explore avenues to express the message until she has discovered the most effective and the student has fully gained an understanding.  Jamie’s success stems from her ability to identify with her students and speak with them at their level.  It’s both challenging and rewarding especially when the kids find out they can understand and do well. 

 Jamie recalls an experience with a student who was having difficulty all year.  Despite his best efforts, he just couldn’t seem to grasp the concepts.  However, when the final exams were distributed and students reviewed their grades, this young man received an A.  He jumped out of his seat to give her a high five and said, “I told you that you would give me an “A.”  Jamie responded, “I didn’t give it to you, you earned it.”  He was so excited he was jumping around with his friends and said it was his first “A”. 

   Jamie gets that same kind of joy whenever she works with students.  She has always wished that she could do something spectacular for kids who have limited opportunities.  It is Jamie’s incredibly big heart and her passion to reach out and teach kids, that puts a spark in their eyes when they learn something new and exciting. 

  Jamie is thrilled to be teaching the Great Explorations in Math and Science curriculum at the Jim Cleamons Books and Basketball Camp and anticipates that it will be a rewarding experience for both herself and her students.  Through this experience, Jamie will do something spectacular; giving a million dollars worth of love and caring by creating a million sparks in their minds. 

 Jamie is currently employed with the North Kitsap School District as a Certified Substitute.  She has two children, Jake age 6 1/2 and Katie, age 5.  Her husband Dan is a Criminal Investigator for the Environmental Protection Agency, for almost 9 years.  They live on 2.5 acres in Kingston WA where they have 15 chickens, two ducks, two dogs, one cat and one 31 year old horse.  The trophies she won showing that same horse in high school are in her attic. 

   She graduated from the University of Washington in 1991 with a B.S. in Zoology and received a Masters in Education from Old Dominion University this past December.  After graduating from college she worked in the pharmaceutical industry for about five years for a company called Immunex performing Quality Control in the Microbiology Department before moving on to research in the Immunology Department.  She quit in order to stay home and raise her kids and is now enjoying life as a teacher and mother.