Benilde-St. Margaret’s teachers are always busy with grading, preparing classes, and meeting with students. For many, teaching is their only job, however, there are some who feel they have multiple vocations and career paths. From selling cheesecakes to working in retail and at a brewery, teachers are finding ways to keep busy outside of school hours.
Charles Nepomuceno, Engineering teacher, has a unique job outside of teaching. According to him, it doesn’t feel like an extra job, more of a “side gig.” Nepomuceno makes any and all cheesecakes and sells them on his Instagram called Cha Cha’s Cheesecakes. His great-grandmother taught all of his siblings to bake, and they all picked one area to be an expert in. To not get too overstimulated with teaching as well as baking, he limits himself to preparing three cheesecake orders per week. He feels like it will continue to be a fun side-gig in the future, but is open-minded to the idea of doing this full time, “Who knows, maybe I do become one of those stories where the thing that I found fun becomes my full-time job, but right now I’m just doing it for fun,” Nepomuceno said.
Who knows, maybe I do become one of those stories where the thing that I found fun becomes my full-time job, but right now I’m just doing it for fun.”
— Charles Nepomuceno
Another teacher with a job outside of teaching at BSM is English teacher Paul Canavati. Canavati uses his strengths of connecting with others to be a part-time bartender. He works at Omni Brewing in Maple Grove. His hours are very flexible and don’t interfere with his teaching schedule. He occasionally works some weeknights as well as some Saturdays, but mostly works in the summer. Although the extra cash is a good incentive to work, he loves to socialize with others. “It’s a good way to meet people. I do a lot of the events and community days but I do enjoy just talking to people,” Canavati said.
In addition, history teacher Megan Kern works at Patina. She enjoys working at Patina because of the people she is able to meet. The store is flexible with her hours because they appreciate her kindness and bubbly personality. There are many aspects of working a second job that Kern enjoys, like extra spending money during holidays or seeing people she knows at the store. “I also love how often I see people from Good Shepherd or BSM there–students come in and freak out when they see me. The parents are funny and always have nice things to say,” Kern said.