Growing up at Peabody, I was around teachers all of the time, since my mom, Miss Kim, was Peabody’s kindergarten teacher! You could just tell the teachers loved what they did and brought so much passion to the classroom. From Ms. Renee to Ms. Gottschalk, I had so many amazing teachers. Mrs. Barr, my middle school English teacher, really encouraged my love of English. She would take the time to encourage my interest or recommend extra books. I remember Mr. Merrick’s enthusiasm for history, and Madame Meyer had so much passion for French language and culture. Ms. Landon’s independent learning project, where we could choose a topic and dive in, really influenced my love for finding the things that interest me.
After graduating from Peabody, I went to high school at St. Anne’s-Belfield, which felt like a similar environment to Peabody in terms of being very academically-minded. Everyone was encouraged to play sports and work hard in the classroom, a real continuation of my time at Peabody! I knew I was interested in the humanities at St. Anne’s because they follow a true humanities model with a mixture of English and history classes, and I enjoyed that model of exploring human experience and culture.
Heading to college, I didn’t want to be pigeon-holed into a certain discipline right away. I went to UVA where I had the opportunity to explore many different interests, just like I had at Peabody and St. Anne’s. For two years I took a wide variety of classes that were intriguing to me, including oceanography, Russian history, and lots of humanities classes.
Ultimately, I double majored in English and French, continuing my studies that started at Peabody. Over my life I’ve had so many amazing teachers, and I’ve always loved working with children. I started to realize I wanted to be a teacher!
I completed the Master’s of Teaching program at UVA, and have been teaching 5th and 6th grade history at Field School. I’ve been teaching ancient history and love the freedom to teach in creative ways. I love teaching my students how to learn from primary documents, and I’ve even incorporated some of my favorite Peabody projects, including projects my mom used to do like Ancient Greek day, or visiting buildings around town to identify different types of columns.
My advice for Peabody kids is to try everything; don’t leave a stone unturned in terms of your education. You might feel guided to a certain path, but it can also be beneficial and freeing to try out different avenues. Allow yourself to gain new perspectives and find your own path!