By Ahmad Shaur, Will Stark, and Raj Panesar
A familiar face to many in the math department, she’s always willing to go the extra mile for any student. Mrs. Putzer teaches classes like geometry and calculus, and has been teaching math classes at East for several years. Obviously, Mrs. Putzer really likes East and its environment. However, this summer, when the pit was filled, a lot of students and faculty were sad. Mrs. Putzer said that it felt like the end of an era, and it was sad to see it gone.
“I grew up in West Seneca, and I went to West Seneca West high school,” Mrs. Putzer told the newspaper. She grew up near Buffalo and really enjoyed math as a subject growing up. Perhaps it was the perfect equality of the subject, or the consistency of the numbers. Whatever it was, combined with her natural aptitude for math, the subject called to her. Due to this, she wanted to be a teacher and pursued her dream. Now, years later, Mrs. Putzer has become a very good teacher who has helped many students succeed in her class.
As a true Buffalonian, Mrs. Putzer is obviously a huge fan of the Bills. She really enjoys watching games together with her family, and it is a huge part of her life. While on the topic of sports, we asked her if she played any sports growing up. She replied, “Growing up, I was never really into sports. But I really liked dancing, and I was a competitive dancer.” Mrs. Putzer still has her passion for dancing, and she said that even now, she dances from time to time. In her childhood, she would also play basketball casually with a few others. She really enjoyed the sport, but never played competitively.
Anyone who has taken a class taught by Mrs. Putzer knows about her Putzer Piece system. You can get Putzer Pieces from performing well on tests or by participating in class. If you collect ten pieces, you can use them to add two points of extra credit to your grade. We were wondering how she came up with this system. When Mrs. Putzer had her first job in a middle school, one of her coworkers had a similar system known as McGinn Money. Mrs. McGinn inspired Mrs. Putzer to come up with this system when she came to East High School. Originally, they were known as Patty Pieces, due to her maiden name; when she got married, the name was changed to the iconic Putzer Pieces. Due to the value of these pieces, students tend to get desperate to find some to improve their grade. Mrs. Putzer said that one time she caught a student making their own pieces and attempting to turn them in. However, they were really poorly made and Mrs. Putzer was quick to confront that student.
We asked Mrs. Putzer if she was interested in teaching an AP Geometry class that would go into detail about three dimensional shapes. She agreed that it would be a great idea and that she had thought about it in the past. However, the decision to create such a class would be up to the College Board and not her.
Mrs. Putzer is a really great teacher, and it was nice to learn more about her. Any students who have a math class taught by her are very lucky and will have a good time in her class with a mix of learning and fun! If you stop by the math office and see Mrs. Putzer, give her a wave and say hi!
