An incoming, outgoing Spanish teacher finds new adventures at TJ.
photo by Mia Nogueira
The bright new Foreign Language Teacher, Kimberly Csepe, has not only been properly welcomed, but has already begun to make her name known around the halls of TJ. “Sea positivo, respete a los demas, y diviertase mucho.” In other words, “Be polite, respect others, and have a lot of fun.” A very simple rule of thumb for life; however, Kimberly Csepe has declared this to be her favorite Spanish philosophy. “It’s a personal quote. Treating others the way you want to be treated is important, just like being polite and having a lot of fun!” she says, smiling.
Csepe discovered her enthusiasm for Spanish after spending time in Cuba for a mission trip, as well as studying abroad in Spain for five months. Csepe thoroughly enjoyed the cultures of Cuba. The way she described the communist government though, was that she always felt like she was being listened to, and she found it difficult to get past that and ignore it. While Csepe realized after the experience that she didn’t accomplish as much mission work as she had originally planned, she said it was fascinating to see a communist government at work and view a culture which many never have the privilege of doing.
“During high school I took Spanish, just like everyone else. But it wasn’t until I lived in Spain that I realized it was a passion of mine,” said Csepe. While she enjoyed Cuba, she stated that Spain became more a part of her. “Because I lived there, I loved it for more than just the language. Everything was absolutely beautiful and the culture was some of my all time favorite.” Another thing that she said she absolutely adored about Spain was their way of living. “Here in the U.S., if you see a friend on the street, but you’re rushing to a meeting, it’s a ‘hi, bye’ thing. However, in Spain, if you see a friend on the street, you stop and talk to them and sacrifice a few minutes of the meeting. Here it’s too Go, Go, Go, all the time.” Csepe said she loved seeing a community where friends and family were so valued and were more important than anything else going on in the world. This studying abroad was a time in Csepe’s life that she said will stick with her forever, and she describes as one of the two life-changing experiences that she has had.
“College…was probably the best time of my life.” Graduating from Calvin College in Grand Rapids Michigan, Csepe describes her college experience as the second thing on her list of life-changing experiences. With many new faces, opportunities and options, she said it was a blast. “I made so many great friends and had so many new choices that I was free and able to make on my own. It was absolutely amazing.”
Although Csepe enjoyed her times in two Spanish-speaking countries, it was in America that she studied and decided to become a teacher. She began teaching not just Spanish, but also social studies, math, and language arts at a Spanish Emergent school. During those three years she learned plenty about how to run a good classroom, help the students do extremely well, and make it all interesting. Here at TJ, she is hoping to make her class a fun and productive way to learn the language of Spanish. “There will be a lot of interactive, hands-on activities, such as story telling in Spanish, and projects to help you excel as much as possible.”
Outside of the Spartan environment, Csepe is a happily married, adventurous, mid-twenties woman who loves seeing the world and experiencing new and exciting things. “I love skiing, hiking and sports (volleyball) and vacationing. They keep my life exciting.” With Keystone being her favorite ski resort, “…because its so huge and incredible,” she and her husband go skiing there often. “One time we hiked up to one of the very top of the biggest summits in the resort and only realized just how big it was when the only way down was to ski all the way through the trees, because on the other side was a cliff,” she said laughing.
Also in her spare time, Csepe loves to read Spanish children’s books and write poetry. “It gets it out of my head, and down on paper,” she said. The last of her obsessions is games. “Card games are amazing, and in Las Vegas I’m a sucker for blackjack. But two of my favorite board games are Catch Phrase and Loaded Questions.”
One of Kimberly Csepe’s main goals for her time at Thomas Jefferson is to be a full time teacher. “Being a half time teacher has its perks, but I would absolutely love to be here all the time and see for myself all the community-wide events and just watch the students and have fun with them all day long!” With four pre-existing foreign language teachers, Csepe knew coming into TJ that she would easily fit in with the other four, as well as just finding TJ a homey place to be. She has already fallen in love with the Spartan community and considers herself a Spartan, as well. Csepe is wildly talkative if you just get her going on subjects she is fond of, and even offers a piece of candy every now and then to those who stop to chat.
