“[My family] moved every two or three years [when I was] growing up. [Being] the new kid like 1000 times was a hard experience, but it definitely helped me to grow and deal with unexpected situations. It made me a better teacher because I know what it’s like to be thrown into an environment and not knowing what to do with yourself.

My family always told me I was going to be a teacher, but for a long time, I was preparing to be a dancer. It was really challenging, and I discovered that it was not something I could do in the long term, but I did really love teaching fitness dance classes. That’s where my love of teaching came from.

When I was teaching other people, I felt like I was making connections and helping them. You had people of all ages, all sizes, all different abilities. I really loved being able to tap into every person’s gift [and] give feedback to help them grow. That is my joy as a teacher: being able to watch my students get better and better and feel proud of themselves for that.

I’m excited to give students a choice when it comes to what we’re reading and getting people into really deep discussions about what they’re [reading]. When I was a student in English class, a lot of what we did was we just read and then answered questions. We never talked about it, we never went in depth. We didn’t get to have those tangents where we got to ask deeper questions about the context. Like, ‘When was this in history? Or who was this author outside of the text?’ I really am excited about getting deeper into all of that stuff, to make it really feel like what we’re reading is [not] just static.

[There] has to be a balance between care and discipline [in] the way that you approach being a good teacher. Yes, it’s about how you’re teaching and if your students are learning, but more than anything, it’s [about having a] space where your students feel safe to be authentically themselves, where your students feel like they can share their opinions, and they don’t have to be scared that they’re going to get judged for that. They can make mistakes.

I really enjoy the students [at Bellaire] so far. I know there have been a lot of new teachers added. That’s a big adjustment for everybody, but there are so many great people that work here and so many that have been brought in. That sense of community is really encouraging to me.”