Mansfield Public Schools Educator Spotlight: Mansfield High School Business Teacher Jacqueline Collins

Mansfield High School Business Teacher Jacqueline Collins. (Photo Courtesy Mansfield Public Schools)

MANSFIELD — Her parents were teachers, but she had no plans to follow in their footsteps.

Mansfield High School Business Teacher Jacqueline “Jackie” Collins proudly refers to herself as a “career changer.” She started her career in the software industry, but changed course nearly two decades ago, landing in the education field.

Now her specialty is steering students toward their chosen careers. 

“Jackie goes over and beyond providing amazing opportunities for her students to teach them the ins and outs in the business world,” said Mansfield High School Business Department Chair Nicole Redding. “She is constantly changing her curriculum to provide a state-of-the-art experience for her students!”

As part of Mansfield Public Schools’ Educator Spotlight series, Superintendent Teresa Murphy would like to recognize Jacqueline Collins for her innovative teaching techniques and dedication to student success at Mansfield High School.

“Jackie is, without a doubt, one of our top educators,” said Superintendent Murphy. “In the classroom, she motivates and inspires our students. Her contributions to the lives of her students cannot be overstated.”

Collins was named the 2021 National Business Teacher of the Year and 2015 Massachusetts Business Teacher of the Year. She’s a National Board Certified Teacher who specializes in Career and Technical Education with a focus on Business, Marketing and Financial Services.

“Jackie is always being asked to share her knowledge and secrets for teaching financial literacy and entrepreneurship at the national level,” Redding said. “She puts Mansfield High School on the map, and we could not be more proud to have her as a part of our department and school!” 

In 2011, Collins helped launch the Entrepreneurship course at Mansfield High School. In this course, students run their own small businesses each semester, gaining hands-on financial literacy skills.

While the project is focused locally, students also make a global impact. To date, Mansfield High’s Entrepreneurship students have donated nearly $19,000 to various charities and provided microloans to 68 entrepreneurs in 42 countries.

“They don’t just read about starting a business in a book,” Collins said. “In my class, they actually do it. They learn an actual skill. And they’re doing it while they’re still students. It’s a great experience for them to practice, while not having as much risk involved.”

The products sold out of Collins’ Entrepreneurship class range from hand-poured candles to heat-pressed T-shirts, beauty products like lip balms, body scrubs, and lotions, and designer hair scrunchies.

“I like to incorporate what’s going on outside, in my classroom,” said Collins. “We take a look at what’s going on in the world of business. And my entrepreneurship students are starting their own businesses and building them from the floor up. They create a product that they will be selling, keep track of money spent, money brought in and then they calculate the profit.”

And each semester offers its own surprise successes.

“I have no idea what I’m walking into each semester,” said Collins. “The students are driving the bus.”

Collins has worked hard to secure grant money over the years to fund the Entrepreneurship coursework.

“I give them enough leeway so that they can make their own decisions,” Collins said. “I’ll let them veer off if it’s not too, too bad, unless disaster is imminent. There have been only a couple of times we’ve not done particularly well, but we haven’t had a loss yet.”

Before she shifted to teaching, Collins had been doing mostly consultant work and training. She found she really enjoyed training young employees. 

Collins’ parents, William and Carmel Collins, are both retired public school teachers who worked their entire careers in Plymouth. After leaving the software industry, Jackie Collins worked with her father for a year at the Plymouth Community Intermediate School. Her mother was a teacher at West Elementary in Plymouth.

When she switched careers from the software industry to teaching, she was thrilled to discover the post in Mansfield, for which her business background made her uniquely qualified.

“No one was more surprised than my parents,” Collins said of her decision to leave business and commit to public school teaching. “I had been teaching math because I had no idea they were teaching business in high schools. Finding this position in Mansfield was the perfect fit.”

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