After a transient childhood, English teacher Cecily Griesser has settled in Colorado to spend her fourth year teaching at Thomas Jefferson.
Now settled in her classroom, English teacher Cecily Griesser is a welcome addition at TJ. Photo by Ryan Woods
Having a father who is in the Air Force can mean a lot of moving around for a family, which is something to which Cecily Griesser can relate. She’s lived in other countries, including Spain and the Azores, an archipelago off the coast of Portugal. “Most of my early, early childhood, up until age ten or 11, was spent outside of the United States,” says Griesser.
As one of the new additions to the Spartan staff, Griesser is teaching Introduction to Literature and Composition and Honors American Literature. Before TJ, she spent three years working at Montbello High School, where she taught ninth and tenth grade English. “Montbello is where I started teaching. That’s where I trained and where I worked, and so this is the start of my fourth year [teaching].”
Unlike many people who are sure of what they want to have as a career very early in life, Griesser says she decided to become a teacher about three or four years after she graduated from college. “I was working with a group of medical school professors, and we were doing research on medical education; what makes a good doctor, and all that stuff. I liked the student teacher aspect of it, but medical education was just not for me.” At the same time, Griesser was in graduate school researching public policy and education, and that was when she decided that education was the career for her.
Griesser says she had two favorite subjects in high school: Calculus and, of course, English. “I did really like English. It’s not that it was really easy for me; it was just something that made sense.” Though Calculus didn’t come as easily to her as English, she says her teacher made a huge impact on how she felt about Calculus. “My teacher was so good that she made me feel very capable,” recalls Griesser.
In addition to Calculus and English, Griesser says she played volleyball in school. “I really liked it,” says Griesser, even though she decided not to play for her school’s more competitive team in college. “I knew it would be different at the college level. I did play club in college.” She said that her choice to play volleyball at a lower level came from the knowledge that the sport would be different, especially that it would become more serious and competitive in college. “I didn’t have that competitiveness,” states Griesser, adding that she was unsure that she would like the change.
For post-secondary, Griesser attended the College of William and Mary, a school that has a lot of historical significance. In addition to being founded in the 1600s, being chartered by King William III and Queen Mary II, and surviving fire and massacres, it was also attended by incredible historical figures such as James Monroe, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Tyler, and the Journal’s namesake, Thomas Jefferson. It suspended classes in January of 1781 due to the British Invasion, and has received gifts from Louis XVI, the King of France. The College of William and Mary has a lot of history, but Griesser says that’s not the reason she chose to go there. “They had a really good English program,” she said. Like many English students in college, Griesser has gone on to teach that subject in schools.
To prepare for her classes, Griesser has had to read a lot of books. She says her favorite book to read out of her current classes is A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, which is a play about an African American family, the Youngers, who lived in Chicago during the 1950s. It chronicles the family members’ struggles with identity and family conflict, and also the racial divide in the Windy City. Her favorite book to teach, she says, is The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Alexie’s novel tells the story of a teenage Native American boy named Junior, who grew up on one of the reservations. His life is turned upside-down when he decides to transfer to an all-white school and endures racism, bullying, and has to deal with struggles from his private life.
As the school year progresses, Griesser says that she has felt more and more at home at TJ, due to the friendliness of the staff and students. “It’s been really wonderful. I feel very supported by my colleagues,” says Griesser with a smile. Though going to a new school is always a tough process, Griesser says, “The people here – students, staff, faculty, whatever – have made it very smooth.”
World traveler, teacher, medical education researcher, and volleyball player; Cecily Griesser says she’s happy to be a part of the Spartan community, and after two months teaching here feels supported and welcomed by both the staff and students. Since coming to TJ after Montbello, Griesser says she feels supported, and is happy to be one of the newest additions to the Spartan community. “I am really excited about the year. It’s funny to think that two months ago I didn’t know the 145 students that I have now. I’m really excited about all the work that they’re going to do, and all the good things they’re going to create and learn.”
