She learned multiple Romance languages – Spanish and Italian, with French almost added to the mix – but she wasn’t truly in love with any of them.

A magnet student at Bellaire High School from 2012 to 2016, new Bellaire German teacher Hannah Henry was learning Italian and planning to take French as her second language.

“[Learning multiple romance languages] was difficult because they were all in the same language family, so I was mixing stuff up,” Henry said. “I had already struggled to learn Spanish previously, so when I began selecting my courses, I wasn’t sure French was the direction I wanted to take anymore.”

Henry’s sister struggled with the same problem in college and suggested in Henry’s sophomore year of high school that she try German instead. For Henry, that “changed [her] whole life.”

“I fell in love with the language,” Henry said. “The teacher was awesome, and I was very comfortable with the content. [German] is one of the courses that ultimately shaped the type of educator that I became.”

Henry went on to Texas State University to study biology as well as German Language and Cultural Studies.

“My plan at the time was to become an optometrist, but within that first semester, I realized that I wasn’t in it for the right reasons and switched my major,” Henry said. “I have an innate need to want to help others. I went into optometry to help others correct their vision. Teaching kind of went into that, just with a different population of people.”

Just as trying optometry was essential for her career discovery process, so was Henry’s experience as president of the Bellaire Belles dance team during her time in high school. Belles helped “shape [her] as a German educator.” In addition to leading the German program after returning to Bellaire, Henry dipped her toes back into the dancing world as the new Assistant Director of Belles, primarily helping to manage the junior varsity team.

“Belles provided an outlet that I felt I needed outside of my studies,” Henry said. “I got to learn a lot about how to lead a group of people, how to plan events, how to manage social media, all of which [once becoming an educator] were skills that I needed to be able to promote the [German] program and get students in it.”

Before graduating college in 2019, Henry completed a student teaching semester at Bellaire, one of the requirements for her teaching certificate. It was this semester that made Henry realize her dream to teach where she herself was once taught German.

“The German teaching position at Bellaire was one that I have had my eye on since completing student teaching,” Henry said.

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Henry accepts her high school diploma from former principal Michael McDonough at her graduation in May 2016 (Photo provided by HANNAH HENRY)

Former German teacher of 24 years, Michael Rossow, kept in contact with Henry since her graduation. As Henry became closer to completing her certification, her and Rossow’s communication “really increased.”

“[Henry] expressed her desire to teach German at her alma mater whenever the time came for me to retire,” Rossow said. “I never forgot about that wish of hers. I knew [when I decided to retire] that she would be my absolute first choice in replacing me.”

After receiving her teaching certification, Henry began her teaching career at Woodlands High School from January to May 2020, followed by Klein Oak High School from August 2020 to May 2024. She kept in touch with Rossow through it all and patiently waited for the opportunity to teach German at Bellaire.

“It was something that [Rossow] told me was coming down the line at some point, and just to wait for him to make the decision,” Henry said. “He came to me personally when he decided to retire because he wanted [the German program] to go into good hands, but also the hands of somebody that is a part of his legacy, so he can continue to live on through [my teaching].”

Rossow said he felt “deeply happy” knowing that his replacement was his own student.

“I knew that, from that moment on, the German program and its students I cared so much about and had invested so many years in, would be in the best of hands and well taken care of,” Rossow said. “I have no doubt she will turn the German program into one of excellence in her own unique fashion.”

Henry said she will bring a distinct perspective to teaching at Bellaire.

“I’m an alumna; there’s a different type of connection I feel with working in the school,” Henry said. “There’s a different type of passion that comes through. Every day, I get into my car, I come to work and I’m excited to be here.”

For senior and German 5 student Andrei Perepelitsa, Henry “carries the legacy of [Rossow] a lot.”

“She knows what it’s like to be a German student at Bellaire,” Perepelitsa said. “She knows what works best for us and what doesn’t. It’s really useful because she can use that experience to teach us better.”

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Timeline of Henry's career into teaching (Created by ALIA HASSAN)

According to Henry, Rossow “influences her heavily” when it comes to how she runs the classroom and works with her students.

“I try to keep [Rossow] as connected as possible so that he still feels part of our community,” Henry said. “This is the community that he has built.”

While Henry embodies Rossow in many ways in the classroom, there is one significant technological difference between the two teaching styles.

“I am younger and a little more on the pulse of things in terms of technology, but content-wise, curriculum-wise, a lot of what I do is influenced by [Rossow],” Henry said.

For junior and AP German student Amy Lee, the technology integration is a step in the right direction when it comes to accelerating her German learning.

“We use a lot of technology in [Henry’s] class,” Lee said. “We watch videos, read articles and do presentations. That is more suited for my learned style, so I’m pretty confident for the AP exam.”

Having already taken the AP German exam, Perepelitsa said he looks forward to how Henry will continue preparing students for it.

“For the AP exam, you have to comprehend and respond to [given material],” Perepelitsa said. “That’s perfectly in line with what [Henry] has been teaching so far.”

In addition to helping her current students ease into the process of learning a new language, Henry would like to expand the opportunity of learning German to more middle school students.

“I would love to start a Spark Lab [at Bellaire] to teach other schools that don’t necessarily line up with our feeder pattern German,” Henry said. “Pin Oak Middle School is part of our feeder program, but I would love to be able to provide German instruction with the help of my German National Honor Society students to Lanier, Pershing and other schools.”

Henry said that she “connects with students much more than in previous positions” as an alumna.

“The love that I have for Bellaire is still the same,” Henry said. “I think there is an added passion with being an educator for Bellaire that changes the relationship that I have with the school.”