Born and raised in Frederick County, Kymm Shern never thought she'd one day be the face of New York City's public schools. Now education ads with her picture can be seen at bus stops, telephone booths and subway stations throughout the Big Apple.

"There's one street ... I literally walked seven blocks and saw myself five times," Shern said. "It's a very strange feeling. I'm thinking, 'I'm this little girl from Frederick County, Maryland, and my face is all over New York City!'"

Courtesy Photo Kymm Shern, former Spanish teacher for Frederick County Public Schools, stands next to an advertisement with her picture at a bus stop in New York City. Shern became the face of New York City Public Schools only one year after she moved there in 2005.

Shern attended Parkway Elementary, West Frederick Middle, Frederick High and Mount St. Mary's University.

"I just wanted something new," she said. "I
wanted more of a city experience. I knew that
there was ateacher shortage there, so I
decided 'why not?'"

"I told my story to the people from the ad agency and they said they were interested in the fact that I didn't go to school to be a teacher," she said. "And the next thing I know I got a phone call asking if I will do a photo shoot."

Her teaching career began when she spent a year helping a middle school in Damascus create a volunteer program for a new community service requirement for graduation in Maryland.

"I loved interacting with facilitating the learning of others and decided I wanted to do more," she said. "After I finished two service years with Volunteer Maryland, I started volunteering for the Frederick County Adult Education with the Adult ESL program."

Susan Helm Murphy, FCPS curriculum specialist for foreign languages, approached Shern and offered her a job as a Spanish teacher.

"My original plan was to join the Peace Corps," she said.

Shern immediately noticed the differences between the Frederick County and the New York City school systems. She said she misses the "family atmosphere" of the administration and students in Frederick County.

"You tend to become a member (of the community)," she said. "I might teach one kid and their younger sibling, and you don't get that opportunity in New York City."

Shern said Frederick County Public Schools staff members work together for the same goal.

"(In New York) it's very competitive and political," she said. "My first year I spent so much energy trying to finagle my way through the system that I wasn't being the best teacher I could be because I had to figure out how things worked."

Shern struggled with the summer school job in New York.

"It was my first experience at a school with metal detectors, security guards, 20-year-old high school students, and where we had two lock-ins, because of gang violence outside," she said. "It was scary, but I stayed, and I'm glad I did."

Shern's extended family still lives in Frederick, and she visits them for holidays and special events. But she tries to stay in New York as much as possible to better know the city, having only lived there for two years.

In September, Shern began her third year at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts, teaching Spanish to students who later become performers and producers.

"I feel good with what I'm doing. I've figured out what my place is here as a teacher, so I do feel like I'll be teaching for a while," she said.

Her favorite aspect of teaching is hearing former students say they've learned something valuable from her, and not just from the books they studied.

"I love helping young people realize that they have options in life. I think that no matter what it is you teach -- although teenagers don't realize it -- at some point what they learn in the classroom they take away with them, and it's not always the curriculum," she said.

Shern learned her own lesson as part of the ad campaign -- modeling is not her forte.

"I was there for six hours for one picture," she said. "Give me an overly-crowded classroom any day."