Leadership advisor and activities director Heather Stretch is leaving Aragon after advising the Leadership classes for two years and serving as an academic advisor in the counseling for three.
Stretch started out as a biology teacher in 1993. She has taught in Arizona and Vermont, as well as teaching abroad as a substitute in Italy and a volunteer in Germany.
“I chose to teach science because I like the hands-on learning part,” Stretch said. “ I’m a bodily kinesthetic learner and I like to bring a lot of fun [from] games, movement and activities to the classroom. The labs were so much fun to teach. Not only did I love the subject, but I loved making it accessible and fun for students to learn. Seeing students having a good time and just light up and have that eureka moment [was] what hooked me as a teacher for life.”
Through her years working at Aragon in the Leadership program, Stretch has advised Leadership with numerous rallies, cultural celebrations, spirit weeks, lunchtime events, annual dances and many more activities. She unified the Link Crew, Renaissance and Leadership classes under one name, Leadership, allowing more students to participate in the program. Especially this year, the program has received a high volume of applications, creating a waitlist.
“Ms. Stretch has been an amazing part of our leadership program,” said Assistant Principal Andrew Hartig. “[She] really embodies the spirit of the school and what it means to be a Don. She’s worked very tirelessly to make events as inclusive as possible to get as many students actively involved in the school’s life.”
During her time in Leadership, Stretch emphasized the value of diversity. From her class’ decorations of flags and pictures of the world to her lesson plans, Stretch has worked to inspire students with it.
“I love that we have such an integral part of creating a good culture and climate here on campus,” Stretch said. “We have this beautiful diversity here at Aragon and my main goal the last two years is to bring more cultural appreciation – making sure that everybody feels seen, heard and appreciated. The more we reach out, understand each other and appreciate each other’s differences, the closer we become.”
Stretch’s cultural appreciation and desire for inclusivity stems from traveling abroad with her family.
“When I lived in Germany, I would create home lesson plans for my family,” Stretch said. “Every time we traveled, we did a lot of research on history, art, music, cultural celebrations, religions [and] language, so we had cultural appreciation, not just traveling for a passport stamp. It’s very important to me that when people travel, they intentionally travel with the idea to learn and how to appreciate other cultures. I think that’s something that potentially can bring the world together.”
With the theme of inclusivity, Stretch has created many activities inside Leadership to connect students together, especially a dance that Stretch’s instructional coach, Victoria Daniel, Advancement Via Individual Determination and English teacher, has had the chance to observe.
“I love that she taught her students a Leadership dance [which] I had never thought would be in Leadership,” Daniel said. “It was really cute to see her teaching them and the students doing it. She’s willing to get out there in the same way that she’s asking her students to get out there.”
Over her five years at Aragon, Stretch has left memorable life lessons on many students at Aragon.
“She [has] taught me a lot about how to talk to people,” said junior Leadership student Pietra Lopez. “There’s always a good way for you to say something [about the] message that you want to convey.”
Many admin and staff spoke highly of Stretch.
“She was incredibly wonderful to work with,” Hartig said. “She always has questions, seeks advice [and] compromise. All the things you want when working with somebody who is thoughtful, diligent, and just puts a lot of time and attention into detail, but is also willing to compromise and is open to ideas.”
Previously, Stretch was the Leadership’s advisor, she worked closely with counselor Lea Sanguinetti as an academic advisor. Over the three years working together, Sanguinetti has developed meaningful memories with her.
“Back to the year of COVID, when we left in March, my birthday was in April and I was super bummed because I was supposed to go to Las Vegas that week [for my] birthday and I couldn’t,” Sanguinetti said. “She made me this awesome video where she had students say special notes to me [in] a Vegas theme. It was ten minutes long and she incorporated movie scenes [as] a virtual birthday card with all these sweet [and] special messages from students. I’ll never ever forget that [because] she made me feel so special and she didn’t have to do that [because] she had just met me five months earlier.”
Stretch first announced to the Leadership classes about her leave as Leadership advisor shortly after spring break.
“When she first told the class [about leaving], it was very sad,” said Leadership student and junior Malia Choi. “Everyone was heartbroken because she’s made such a big community at Aragon. For Leadership, she’s made my experience so much better [and] I have no regrets joining.”
Freshman Devyn Lee has mixed feelings about the new changes of advisor.
“It’s kind of sad because I only got one year with her but I feel like it’s good to have new teachers to experience how people do things differently in class,” Lee said.
Although Stretch doesn’t have any plans after this change yet, she will continue to foster her love for educational travel.
“I will say that this job has been the pinnacle of my career,” Stretch said. “These last two years as Leadership teacher and activities director have been my favorite of everything I’ve ever done in my career. I love this leadership family [that] we’ve created within the program. I’m going to miss every single one of these students [and] it’s going to be hard to say goodbye.”
Starting the 2024-25 school year, Lindsay Bussey, a current English teacher, will take over the position as Leadership advisor and activities director at Aragon.
