Many SHS students have noticed an unfamiliar name on the sign in front of room 213. Contrary to popular belief, Nicole Geiger is not a new teacher at SHS. In fact, she has been teaching here since 2013. During the end of 2021, she took a year and a half hiatus to take care of her new family.
Only 14% of families have four or more kids, but Geiger and her spouse adopted six children from foster care. Geiger explains the ins and outs of her experience with adoption, and why she took a break.
“In 2019, we adopted three siblings from foster care, and about two years later in 2021, we matched with three more siblings,” Geiger said. “My youngest just had so many needs, and my oldest from the first set [of siblings] needed some extra help. So, I took family medical leave, [and] it turned into childcare leave. I was able to take a full year off. So the grand total of kids are six, two sets of siblings.
“Our oldest is a 14 year old male. He is a high school freshman. The next is a 12 year old girl, she is in middle school. I have a 10 year old girl, two 9 year old boys, and then a 7 year old boy.”
Anatomy teacher Kirsten Ahrens and Geiger were hired the same year. They have a close relationship. Ahrens respects Geiger’s character and ability to create a positive environment for both her students and her kids.
“She’s energetic, she’s very kind and she’s fun,” Ahrens said. “She has very good boundaries, and I think she provides a lot of stability with those boundaries. In addition to that, she approaches things in a creative manner. She is not afraid to take risks, and [she is] not afraid to try something out of the box. [Her kids] are the cutest things in the world. They are so sweet, they are so loving and fun. What she has done for them is crazy.”
Geiger devotes a lot of time and effort to her family. She pushes her children to succeed just as she does her students.
“My daughter ran cross country for Woodridge,” Geiger said. “She made varsity, and she was born with cerebral palsy. When we adopted her, she was in an adaptive dance class just to get her moving. She [now] runs varsity middle school on a team that has won the middle school state championship. It is an inspiring story because she used to scream and cry on hikes, and say ‘my feet hurt, I can’t do this.’ I remember piggybacking her. We nurtured [all my kids] to find something they love.”
Head of the science department at SHS Jeffrey Grimm recognizes Geiger for her personality and devotion to the science department.
“She always is willing to do whatever it takes to help the science department,” Grimm said. “She is kind of crazy, she’s wacky, she’s fun. When she was gone, the science department missed her. She is very driven to do everything she has to do to help her kids be successful in the classroom. She is very dedicated as a parent and very dedicated as a teacher.”
Geiger’s return to teaching means balancing her kids and a full time job.
“My life is very different,” Geiger said. “When I left, I was a new mom and things were kind of crazy. [My spouse and I are] learning how to get our family into motion with all the kids in activities. We are also just trying to figure out how to be a functional family with both of us back in the work game.”
With all of her experiences, Geiger is a firm believer in listening to your intuition. She understands that her decisions may not make sense to everyone, but it is what worked for her family. She hopes that people will understand this and make instinctual decisions in their life.
“[My advice is] to go with your gut in things that you feel passionate about,” Geiger said. “Both myself and my spouse knew adoption made sense, we’re both in education. My wife is a principal. With the two of us we always knew we wanted to adopt. [Go] with your gut.”
