Black lipstick, black eyeliner, and a long black dress. In the early 2000’s this is how you could’ve found Jen Spoerke, A studious math teacher at Goffstown Highschool. After being a very straight arrow in high school, she moved across the country to live with her grandma in Massachusetts. This newfound freedom gave her something she never had, the choice to choose how she dressed. Being able to fully express herself now, you could find her “dressed to the nines” clad in full goth attire. That’s what being goth was to her, dressing up and feeling like a million bucks. For some it was a political movement, but Mrs. Spoerke stays far away from politics and has only voted in two elections, and in one of those elections, a ballot just happened to appear in her mail that she never requested, and she is still puzzled as to how she got it.
One day in class, she would be dressed like a punk rock princess, and the next, she’d be dressed in casual attire. That was when Spoerke discovered “Corporate Goth” a subtle way to dress Gothic but ready for business. That’s how you can find Spoerke now, either business casual, or Corporate Goth. She is well known for her sassy attitude and dramatic flair. Because of this, Raegan Klesper, a Senior at Goffstown High, lovingly claimed Spoerke is the “Diva of the math department”. It’s hard to ignore her Gothic attitude, style, and character. This demeanor lead to Mckinnon explaining that Spoerke “is the coolest person she ever met.”
The lesson to take away from Spoerke is that you can still be cool when you grow up. Spoerke has a husband and a two-year-old but still rocks out to Marilyn Manson (in between children’s songs). She also had a passion for roller derby that her husband also shared. Her husband officiated 120 games in one year which was too much for Spoerke. She left the sport after 2020 due to the league not returning, and her eventual loss of interest. Spoerke is an impressive testament to retaining your identity, even as your life changes.
But the biggest life change, was having a kid. Spoerke totes around the 2-year-old 26 pound lover of Laurie Berkner and the Kaboomers which Spoerke recommends as “really solid children musicians” her son is certainly a big fan of music, once making his mother sing the Mickey Mouse Club House theme song before bed for two and a half weeks. This was a very painful experience for Sporeke. Even if her little guy hasn’t rocked out to Manson, one day he will realize how cool his mom is.
Spoerke has a vast collection of knick-knacks from her past students on her desk, which tend to be dark variety of little voodoo dolls. Her crown jewel is a porcelain doll’s head with and arm sticking out of the head, this magnificent creature came from her charter school where she made her students make art projects out of porcelain dolls, though odd to some, this display shows students deep respect and appreciation for Speroke, piercings and all.
