Because English teacher Amy Keys’ husband, sociology professor Steve McKay, is taking a long-delayed sabbatical from his teaching duties at UC Santa Cruz, she is taking a leave for the ‘23-’24 school year and plans on returning the following year.
“(College professors) are allowed to take a sabbatical every 7 years to conduct research, and then write it up in public,” Keys said. “He’s never taken a sabbatical because our kids have always been around, so now that we both can, we thought it was the perfect time to take a small break.”
Keys requested a leave of absence for the year from the district, and it was recently approved. With her year off, she has several plans to travel to multiple countries with her husband and expand her understanding of different cultures.
She has been teaching here since 2011. In recent years, she has taught English 11 Honors and Creative Writing; she is also the current department chair.
The two plan to visit Argentina, Costa Rica and Mexico as McKay conducts his research. They will have the opportunity to learn Spanish, while her husband does more work there. Her main plan in South America is to take Spanish courses and gain a greater understanding of Latin American culture.
“I really like languages,” she said “I already have a teaching credential for German and English, and I know Indonesian because I lived in Indonesia for a while.”
For the first semester, McKay and Keys will be staying in South America, but when second semester starts, they will be visiting several Southeast Asian countries: Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.
“We’re going to be staying in Vietnam for the longest, because I am a fan of many Vietnamese and Vietnamese American literature and writers,” she said.
To learn more about the stories behind her favorite writers, like Viet Thanh Nguyen, Keys wants to visit the places she’s read about in novels, as well as significant sites from the Vietnam War. At the same time, her husband will be conducting more research about masculinity, labor and identity, with a university connection in Thailand.
“I’m excited for this new adventure and to learn more about so many different cultures,” she said.
Next year, another English teacher will have to teach the English 11 Honors classes Keys has taught since 2012, but Creative Writing will not be offered because of a lack of signups.