Spanish teacher takes on additional job of activities director

Spanish teacher Rebeca Marshburn has taken on an additional challenge this year: being the new activities director.

Last year, Marshburn taught three Spanish 2 classes during the first semester. Second semester, she took over two of Spanish teacher Gina Rodriguez’s classes while Rodriguez went on maternity leave.

Near the end of the year, the school announced that it had an opening for activities director, a position assistant principal Kerry Mohnike had previously held. With the expansion of Mohnike's job in other areas such as the discipline and administrative support for the Media Arts Program, the administration thought it was best to find an additional person to support student activities and take some of the work load off Mohnike’s shoulders.

Marshburn “loves anything related to activities,” so she immediately applied for the job and was selected for it.

The job of the activities director is to organize student-led events and encourage involvement through rallies, assemblies and dances. In addition, the activities director works with the ASB and helps manage student government.

“We want to do something that would promote spirit within the school,” Marshburn said.

Marshburn hopes that interconnectedness among the leadership commissions will end up benefiting school spirit by allowing the commissions to communicate and work efficiently.

“The goal for this year is to have all the commissions collaborate,” Marshburn said. “This year is a testing year.”

Marshburn still teaches two Spanish classes in addition to her new job. She said that so far, she has not had trouble juggling both positions.

According to Marshburn, one main difference between being a classroom teacher and being activities director is the number of students she is able to meet.

“Just being in the classroom, I get to know only 60 students,” said Marshburn. “But by [being activities director], I get to know so many more.”

Marshburn jokingly added that there is one challenge: keeping up with the emails.

“I opened my computer … first thing in the morning, and 45 emails were on there,” Marshburn said. “I had [just] read [all of my] emails the night before.”

Despite this, Marshburn enjoys the personal interactions she experiences as part of her job. 

“I’d rather know the people walking around the hallways than not know them,” Marshburn said. “It's been a really rewarding experience to be working with many of the students here at school.”