A self-proclaimed “social studies dork,” Emily Cowen ranks economics and government as some of her favorite classes to teach. Cowen, who previously taught at Goodrich and Farmington high schools, took over some of the classes formerly taught by Kevin Powers, who resigned when he was named the district’s head of technology.

“I really like Fenton,” Cowen said. “If I couldn’t teach at Goodrich, I wanted to be here.”

    It is Fenton’s community aspect that Cowen says is one of her favorite things about the high school and its student.

    “There will always be cliques,” Cowen said, “but here it feels like kids try to get along more. People from Fenton don’t really realize it, but in other places it’s really segregated.”

   Her former teaching experiences at Goodrich and Farmington have given her some interesting stories to tell. One of her favorites is her introduction to a  “search-and-seizure” activity.

    “I would preplant a student with a beer bottle and a stolen test in the classroom,” Cowen said. “Then I would call the kid up, go through his backpack and get him in trouble. Everyone, thinking it was real, would freak out. Later, I would bring the kid back in and tell them it was a joke. Then we would talk about whether or not it was right to search his backpack.”

    Teaching social studies and pranking students wasn’t the only thing Cowen did before her time at Fenton.

    “I coached swimming,” Cowen said. “I used to play water polo. I don’t think we have very many water polo players on staff.”