Previously a counseling adviser at Aragon, beginning this year, Heather Stretch is the leadership teacher and director of student activities.
Stretch became a teacher after realizing her passion for secondary education while she was in college.
“I always knew I wanted to be a teacher,” Stretch said. “My brother told me I used to sit him down … [and] make him play school when he was three and I was five. But I think that’s a joke because [that] doesn’t sound like me. But when I finished college, it was clear that I wanted to teach high school.”
“I always knew I wanted to be a teacher”
Before her time at Aragon, she taught various subjects such as biology, human physiology and Advanced Placement Biology across the U.S. between her time abroad for seven and a half years.
“I [also] did other teaching jobs,” Stretch said. “I taught outdoor education in the desert where I was teaching about skulls and how to identify binocular and monocular vision or … herbivores or carnivores. … We did … hands-on environmental desert lessons for kindergarten through … eighth grade.”
Stretch’s previous experiences in college classes and teaching jobs have shaped her current teaching style.
“Some [students] are bodily kinesthetic learners, some are musical learners and [others] are more auditory,” Stretch said. “I appreciate different learning styles, so very early on I tried to incorporate all of those learning styles. I’m very hands-on and science lends itself to that because you can do laboratory experiments.”
Stretch’s time at the counseling office has also shaped her perspective on teaching despite not being a teacher at the time.
“The counseling side of it was very new to me,” Stretch said. “It’s incredible in the ways that they connect with students. … I’ve told people and I stand by this: I will be a better educator because I chose a different perspective of education for a while.”
While it is Stretch’s first year as director of student activities, Stretch has overarching goals in mind for leadership and school-wide events.
“I know this very first year is going to be a lot of figuring it out,” Stretch said. “My goal is … to create … community, culture and connections, so we need to be creating events that are inclusive. We want to listen to what the student body has to say. We want to be open-minded enough that if people have ideas, they share them with us, so we can continue building a very tight, [inclusive] community.”
“We want to listen to what the student body has to say“
Spirit Commission Head and senior Beth Yeung expresses enthusiasm for Stretch’s openness, particularly for taking card payments for spirit gear this year.
“I’m really excited because she’s super open to new ideas,” Yeung said. “I [went] to her with getting the card payments set up and she was really helpful in helping us work with Ms. Tolfa. She’s just really open to new things, which I … like because then we have that open door to new spirit days, new spirit gear.”
Associated Student Body President and senior Ben Wen shares a similar perspective on including students’ ideas in leadership’s decision-making process.
“One of the things I appreciate most about her is that she is extremely open-minded,” Wen said. “She is willing to take input from students and take a second look at some of the things that students may not enjoy.”
Changes in COVID-19 restrictions have allowed for a shift back to indoor events. Indoor rallies will replace last year’s carnivals.
“Homecoming is [going] to be indoors this year so we are going forward as if we’re going, I won’t say back to normal… but more normal,” Stretch said. “But we also have to have contingency plans in case things change.”
Ultimately, with new changes to implement this school year, Stretch will continue to adapt to her new role.
