Stephanie Roelling - Seventh Grade Teacher

A group of new, enthusiastic teachers have joined the Willits education community. This is one of a series of profiles prepared by The Willits News to introduce them to our readers.

After teaching all over the world, including Ecuador and China, Stephanie Roelling has found her way to Willits.

"I'm excited to be in Willits. I'm looking forward to this being my home for a good while," Roelling said.

The teaching veteran has served in the classroom and as a school librarian. During her ten-year career Roelling has taught almost every grade level. Now she's bringing her talents to BGMS where she's teaching seventh-grade English.

Roelling said her fellow teachers have made her feel welcome.

"This definitely is a team environment. The other teachers have been extremely helpful and encouraging," she said. "They always know just what to say and they're extremely helpful when you have questions like 'I don't know how to use this'. They're definitely right there to take care of you."

The California native knew that teaching was in her future when she was in high school.

"It chose me. I can't imagine being in any other profession," she said.

Roelling said her goal is to build a relationship with each of her students.

"To be able to make them realize that what they're doing now not only affects them now but affects the rest of their lives," she said. "Especially in middle school when they have so many growing pains that every child has going through the beginning of their teen years. Everything they're doing is affecting them in the long run. (I want them) to look outside of themselves, not just at the immediate 'me, me, me' kind of surroundings."

Roelling uses her travel experiences to teach an elective course on Chinese culture which helps her students broaden their perspective. Students learn an overview of Chinese art, culture, food, and language.

"It's part of growing in wisdom as well, knowing that you're not the expert on everything and being able to know that you have to look outside of yourself," she said.

Roelling uses literature to teach students a different perspective.

"We read whatever is going on in this character's life; we compare it to our own lives, and what I would've done or what the student would've done in the situation versus what the character did," she said. "So they can see that people are different. My time overseas has also helped. I can help them bring in a cultural perspective as well. They see that not only did this character react differently than I would've reacted but generally other cultures might react differently as well."