Class of 2013
Middle and high school art teacher, Griffith High School
Hobart, Ind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maggie Rivera wants her students to love making art. As a middle and high school art teacher, she knows that her courses will affect how her students see themselves as creators and artists. So, she follows the model she learned at Valpo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne of the things that I\u2019ve definitely taken with me is the professors\u2019 general positivity,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s a sense of support when they critique. They\u2019ll say, \u2018This isn\u2019t quite right yet, but we can make it right.\u2019 Or, \u2018What you have is good, but you can do better.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maggie now uses those phrases in her own classroom, some of the many expressions she has borrowed and adapted for her students. She says she routinely hears herself giving advice inspired by her own education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teaching art was not Maggie\u2019s original plan. She came to Valpo intending to be a veterinarian but found that her biology classes didn\u2019t excite her the way her art classes once had. So she made the leap, double-majoring in art and secondary education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t feel fearful for my future,\u201d she recalls. \u201cIt felt natural, I enjoyed it, and I tried to soak up everything I could. That was probably one of the best decisions I\u2019ve ever made.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The art department faculty knew about Maggie\u2019s career goals, and they encouraged her to develop her teaching skills along with her artistic ability. Professors including Aimee Tomasek, Sarah Jantzi, Jane Lohmeyer, and Liz Wuerffel invited Maggie to help her fellow students during class, then hired her for positions as a teacher\u2019s aide, a darkroom assistant, and a summer art instructor at Valpo\u2019s All About Art camps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In those roles, she learned a new skill set: how to manage a classroom, how to create exhibits of student work, how to show care for the students. In addition to her secondary education course work and student-teaching, these experiences made Maggie a very desirable candidate. Upon graduation, Maggie was hired after sending out just one job application. Moments after her first interview, she was offered a position at Griffith High School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, Maggie teaches beginning drawing, art history, and seventh-grade art each fall. In the spring she teaches beginning painting, introduction to 2-D art, and a new round of seventh-graders. She plans to develop additional courses in digital design and visual communications. Though it takes a lot of time to prepare for that many classes, Maggie\u2019s positivity still rules the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI almost always have work that I take home, something to get ready or plan for, but it\u2019s so worth it,\u201d she says. \u201cTeaching is simultaneously the most fun and the most work I\u2019ve ever been part of.\u201c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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