Notre Dame chemistry teacher Molly Schroeder will be taking a hiatus from teaching next year to continue to grow her family. Her son James is one year and two months old, and she and her husband, Andy, are pregnant with their second child. 

“I am continuing to teach the dark arts in the science department of nobody being able to keep this position for more than three years at a time,” joked Schroeder. 

She is following in her mother’s footsteps of being a stay-at-home mom.

“My mom stayed home with us for 10 years,” said Schroeder. “I want to have those years, where my kids are at home, to be with my kids.”

Similar to how her first child was born, she does not know the gender of her newest child and wants to keep it a surprise. 

“We’re not going to find out, going surprise-style like James. I think that’s the greatest surprise in the world,” said Shroeder. 

Teaching and motherhood, she said, are very similar.

“Teenagers are a little like toddlers in the fact that there are so many stories I come home with,” she reflected. 

“(Being a mother) makes me appreciate everything so much more, but it also makes me much more fearful in a way,” said Shroeder. 

Mr. Noah Rassmussen, who has become a familiar face as a substitute at NDA, will be taking over Schroeder’s position next year.  This is a move that Shroeder was instrumental in helping progress. She has been best friends with Rassmussen’s wife since high school, and her husband Andy has been friends with Mr. Rassmussen since college. 

“I’m gonna miss this place so much!” Schroeder concluded.