Chhievling Seng
Staff Writer
For some students, it’s impossible to even imagine that their teachers were once under the age of 18. But the truth is that they all have a history — and their pasts influence their current selves in surprising ways.
For this article, SLAMedia set out to uncover the hidden pasts of the teachers at our own school.
One thing that several teachers confessed: they wanted independence or were independent.
English Teacher Amal Giknis said she had always wanted independent.
“ I really wanted independence which was hard to come by in my family. It’ s like I don’t know what I’m doing vs I got this. You are old enough to do a lot but you’re not able to do everything on your own.“ I’m glad I did push for that independence then. Now I’m really good being by myself and good at managing my times and needs. I’m still really independent today. “
Art and Technology Teacher Marcie Hull said she was independent knowing that she had to be.
“ I was always given scholarship to take art classes in the city. I would go to south street, I had learned to take public transportation. I can walk to a train stop that took me to downtown in 40 min. I had a whole city to explore. That made my experience very different compared to kids who are sheltered and kept in.”
“ I had a friend that moved in the 6th grade in Utah. I would save my money and I would buy a ticket and visit her and her family alone.”
“ I had to be independent, my parents told me that I can’ t be dependent on them, and I had to learn.”
Some other fascinating things from the following teachers:
Bio-Chem Teacher Tim Best said he has matured.
“ I was kind of nerdy, I didn’t get in trouble very much, but I would do goofy things to get a laugh but you know in the end I end up getting in trouble for it. “
“Proud of my how I grew, matured and changed. Changes from like 7th grade to 12th grade, I used to be really shy and quiet. Then I came out of my shell and now I am more outgoing. “
Spanish Teacher Melanie Manuel was a classical pianist and she also said that she would be the type of students who would annoy herself today!
“ I was a classical pianist. In my final recital, I was chosen to be the closing performance. I was in the Junior Classical League which I appreciate now more than ever. I love that I can still play pieces that I played growing up.”
“ I think if my teenage self were in my current Spanish 1 class, I would annoy the living bejeeezus out of myself. I was often distracted. My teachers loved me, but there was one in particular who I drove crazy because I couldn’t sit still. I had way too much energy.”
Digital Video Teacher Douglas Herman said he was quite curious.
“I think I would probably consider myself a curious person, I wasn’t necessarily sure what I wanted to be when I grew up, I kind of tried a lot of different things, I played sport, and I was in theatre. I moved away from where I grew up to diversify my background. I kind of tried everything , little of this and that. I wanted to explore option, because where I grew up was a little confine.”
“ I had a couple of opportunity to make a serious attempt to play sport and go to college to play. I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do, if I had gone for it and I had done that, I might’ve been able to play baseball or hockey in a professional way. My message to myself would be if I would’ve worked harder to pursue those dream, I would’ve had a better shot and start to college.”
“ I’m thankful for taking chances, being curious and extending myself to situation and groups of people. I pushed myself to be outside of a shell. That is something I did through my life and it started early. I was comfortable talking to different types of people.”
You now know a little bit more about your teachers and their secret teenage lives. Maybe now you might be able to relate to them with what you are going through now as a teenager at SLA.
Image courtesy: http://www.clipartoday.com/_thumbs/034/G/Growing_up_tnb.png
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