Chaley Poth was a student herself this time last year, completing her degree in mathematics and secondary education at St. 
Louis University, also her parents’ alma mater. In many ways, Chaley finds herself right where she’d hoped to be after graduation.
“I was forced to like math growing up,” Chaley says, “and now I love it.” Why the emphasis on math at home? Her mother is also a math teacher. Chaley was inspired by her mother’s career in the Rockwood School District and St. Louis independent schools, and also by one of her math teachers at Cor Jesu.
“She was really involved in the lives of students,” she recalls. This helped Chaley understand that teaching and learning take place both in and outside of the classroom. An embrace of this holistic approach is part of what drew her to Crossroads.
Chaley completed her student teaching at Clayton High School, where she had the opportunity to step in as lead teacher when a need arose. In her first year at Crossroads, she’s grateful for that extra experience, and also for support from her new colleagues and those she studied with at SLU, many of whom are teaching in the St. Louis area.
Chaley is one of four children. Her brothers, also inspired by their mother, are both engineers, one working in Denver and one studying at Santa Clara University. Her sister is a physical therapist here in St. Louis. Chaley lives not far from Crossroads in the Central West End.