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TEACHER SPOTLIGHT: Giving credit where due
When Rachel Nguyen came to Cordova High School three years ago, it was because her new teaching job met both her criteria: a culturally diverse school and a newly-forming International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme.
At her interview, she told the assistant principal, "I'm hoping to build a program I can bring my own children to."
And in fact, her kindergartner and first grader are on track for their mother's high school: They attend a nearby elementary school. "I want my kids to grow up with students like I teach," she says.
It's safe to say that Nguyen is crazy about her students.
"This is the most diverse school I've ever walked into," says Nguyen, who is the school's IB Diploma Programme Coordinator.
"There are these rich heritages and this super community of learners. Every one of my classes is so interesting."
She also tells stories of the challenges her students face, which can easily bring her to tears, but in the end, leave her even more impressed. One young woman in her class travels 40 minutes on public transportation to get to school every day. A young man works in a restaurant to help support his family - but snagged extra hours this summer so he could buy himself a laptop.
The rigorous IB program itself is daunting, Nguyen says. It includes coursework, a 4,000-word essay, prepping for the diploma exam and 150 hours of some type of service. "That's a lot - on top of three hours of homework every night," she says.
Many of her students also participate in demanding extracurriculars like student government, drama and media. "I see students working hard every day, wanting to improve themselves," Nguyen says.
But even at this exhausting pace, her students question and challenge, and discuss heady intellectual concepts, like the central question in her Theory of Knowledge course: How do we know what we know?
"They are brilliant, hard-working individuals ... and this is a beautiful, amazing group of people," Nguyen says. "There is strength and creativity and a sense of community here."
"It is a safe, beautiful, lush and friendly campus," she says.