This Fall 2025, Jessica (Jessie) Maher is having the unique experience of getting to teach at her old high school.

She said, at first, teaching at her old high school felt surreal, like déjà vu that she couldn’t shake. She had this feeling she was out of place and was so anxious all the time, almost like
impostor syndrome.

However, after about two weeks, she started to feel more at ease and that she belonged. She loved being able to teach alongside some of her old teachers, as well as learn from so many others.

On the first day of school, Jessie talked a little bit about Moebius syndrome. She said she was sick to her stomach with anxiety.

She didn’t dive too deeply into the topic, because she didn’t want to be defined by her disability. She simply stated “I have Moebius syndrome, it is a rare medical condition which affects my ability to make facial expressions. If you ever think I am rolling my eyes at you, I promise I’m not. If you ever think I am being rude to you, that is not the case”.

Jessie said that approach went surprisingly well and led to the students being curious and asking her questions as the semester went on, and they felt comfortable to do so. Not once did she label it a “disability” because she knew they wouldn’t have understood it in a manner that didn’t have a certain stigma.

The thing Jessie likes most about her job is when the students get excited when they fully grasp the content. Their curiosity shows through the thoughtful questions they ask, which reflects their desire to learn. She said this goes hand in hand with cultivating a classroom community of respect and understanding, and seeing the students working together and building positive connections with their peers.

She said the most challenging part about her job is classroom management. Every student has their own backstory, which makes them behave in certain ways. This coupled with other students in the class that they are friends with, or on occasion “frenemies,” can create a high energy classroom environment that can be difficult to control.

An experience while teaching that stood out to Jessie happened during the last month of school. A morning class had been particularly off the rails, and it caught her so off guard she was overwhelmed. She thought they were making progress by the end of class, however, one of her students proceeded to yell at her and be verbally aggressive. This took her by complete surprise because that particular student had never raised their voice at her.

Once the bell had rung for the students to transition to their next class, she waited for them to all leave and she used the passing time to sit in silence at her desk and cry. She was so overstimulated, frustrated, and annoyed.

Once the final bell rang for the next class to start, she opened the doors and allowed her students into the classroom. They knew instantly something was off, mainly because that class was one of her smaller classes, so she got to know them better.

Once she had given directions for the day, she immediately sat at her desk, which is not something that she regularly did. They were all silent, the complete opposite from how they normally are, and they just looked at her while she was trying to distract herself from crying more.

Then, one of her students told her a joke. It was completely unexpected, because a majority of her students didn’t care how her day was or noticed differences in her behavior before. Once she laughed at the joke, the class mood started to lighten up, as did her mood.

Her students saw how puffy her eyes were from crying a couple minutes before, and they immediately asked her “Ms. Maher, what did the previous class do to you? What did they do to make you upset? Who do we need to fight? You are our favorite teacher and they better not disrespect you like that.”

It was in that moment that she realized that even though she had Moebius, and looked different than every other teacher they ever had, she knew they could see her emotions anyway. It was the closest she had ever felt to being normal.

Jessie said she has always wanted to be a teacher, ever since she was little. She used to
make fake attendance sheets and line up all her stuffed animals, and then use her old schoolwork to “teach a class.”

She also had so many teachers in her life that were positive role models, and who
showed her different aspects of teaching, such as both of her grandmothers.

Jessie has a Bachelor’s degree in Social Science Education.

She did her first teaching internship in Spring of 2023, where she observed her placement class and teacher for five days and then planned five micro-lessons (with the assistance of the teacher) to teach in that particular class over the rest of the semester.

She did her final internship in Fall 2024. She did both internships at the high school she graduated from.

After graduation, she accepted a teaching position at her old high school on a temp contract to teach for the spring semester 2025. She taught Personal Finance at a sophomore level class. That then led to a regular contract starting Fall 2025, where she is teaching Personal Finance and World History.

On Interviewing

Jessie said she had fairly good luck when it came to job interviews. Her first job when she was 18, she didn’t have to disclose having Moebius because her best friend worked there and told the manager before the interview (Jessie didn’t ask her to, her friend wanted to do that to support Jessie). However, Jessie did disclose it because she didn’t want to feel like she was hiding anything. The woman who interviewed her just said “oh yeah I knew that, Ariel told me”.

Her second job when she was 19, she had her interview during Covid. She was wearing a mask, so she didn’t mention anything until the end of the interview. When the interviewer asked her if she had any questions for her, that’s when Jessie brought it up.

Jessie said, luckily, teaching at the high school she graduated from, she didn’t need to discuss Moebius in her interview because they knew her already.

Jessie said having Moebius didn’t make the interviewing process more difficult. The part that made it difficult was the hours leading up to the interviews where she stressed about whether she would disclose it or not, as well as how to disclose it, especially in the case of her interview during Covid. She was more nervous that she wouldn’t be fully understood because the mask muffled her speech if she didn’t focus on talking clearly.

Jessie’s advice to others with Moebius who are navigating job searching, is look for a job that you have genuine interest in. When you are interviewing for a job that you have interest in, the interview goes much smoother.

Also, she finds it best to always disclose Moebius in the interview at the point you feel most comfortable to do so. She likes to wait till the end when the interviewer asks “do you have any questions?” By waiting to the end, it gives you the opportunity to take the lead on the conversation, which often branches into curiosity by the interviewer. This also creates an effect of having a memorable interview (most people never ask questions at the end of an interview).

Growing Up With Moebius

Jessie said growing up with Moebius was really hard. From kindergarten till about 8th grade, she didn’t have many friends. She was often the last one picked for sports teams and group projects; she was left out of so many things. She said she blocked out much of 6th through 10th grade, primarily because she was bullied so badly.

Once she started high school, she said it got worse. She had a few friends, however there was a point when she had no friends, and as a freshmen, that was hard. She tried so hard to fit in by joining sports teams, even though she didn’t necessarily care to be a part of them, She just wanted a way to be normal.

Things got better once she was a junior in high school. She started at a new school, the one she currently works at. By this time, a majority of her classmates had grown up with her, so they knew she had Moebius, and it didn’t seem to be such a big deal anymore. She was still bullied up until she graduated high school, but she made so many friends her junior and senior year, that she had forgotten what being alone felt like. Some of those friends she still talks to today.

She said she was always too kind, so she wasn’t confident enough to stand up to her bullies, and she regrets that, looking back. However, the friends she still talks to today, are the ones who stood up for her, even when she wasn’t in the room.

To anyone with Moebius who’s being bullied, Jessie said you’re not alone, and you don’t have to face it by yourself.

Start by finding a few true friends you can count on—having even one or two people who truly get you can make a huge difference. Never forget that Moebius is part of what makes you unique, not less. Speak to a trusted adult about what you’re going through—they can help protect you and make sure you’re supported. And most importantly, seek out spaces and people where you feel safe, respected, and that you belong.

On Self-Acceptance

Jessie has decided not to get the smile surgery, and advocates for self-acceptance and love instead. She said she feels so grateful that her parents always left it to be her decision.

She remembers the first time her parents sat her down and talked about it with her. She was about 7 or 8 years old at the time, and Jessie, personally, thinks that is still too young to make such a huge life changing decision. Her parents explained to her about the smile surgery, and how if it was something she wanted, they would make it happen, no matter the cost. They explained they would have to travel to Canada, stay there for a week or two, and they told her what the surgery entailed.

She remembers pretty much immediately saying she didn’t want it, which she thinks was a shock (to her parents) at first. They reassured her that if she ever changed her mind, they would make it happen. However, they never pushed her to think about it in any capacity, and she was so grateful for that. She felt accepted and that they didn’t think she was a broken toy that needed to be fixed.

Every conference moving forward, Jessie’s mom made sure Jessie still went to a smile surgery consult, that way Jessie was 100% sure in her decision against it.

Jessie said, not once has she ever wavered on that choice. She has days where of course she wishes she could smile, but being told that people can tell when she’s smiling by her eyes or the way she sounds, is what reassures her that she made the right decision. Her perspective on why she is against getting it, is because she wants her natural smile to shine. She doesn’t think a surgically created smile would make her feel most like herself. She wants to be able to tell her kids one day that she loved herself for who she was and didn’t need to change anything about herself to feel beautiful.

Jessie said her self-love journey has been extremely difficult and is far from over. Every day is an uphill battle, and each phase of her life has been different.

She said social media has been the cause of so many of her problems with self-love. All over Instagram growing up (TikTok didn’t exist until she started college), she saw people who were models, actresses, singers, and she thought that’s what she had to look like to be “normal’ and be loved. She tried so hard to be skinny and look flawless like them.

It wasn’t until the past couple years that she realized she doesn’t want to look like or be like anyone else. She loves being unique and embracing her differences. Being the same won’t make you memorable, it only makes you more forgettable. Once she realized this, she decided she wanted to be different, and use her unique difference to change the world for the better. The best thing she did was realize she didn’t need anyone else’s validation.

Jessie said attending the conferences and having her group of Moebius friends has helped her tremendously along the way, too. The conferences have been a life changing experience for her and her family, and she wouldn’t miss them for anything.
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