Page 23 - Newsletter_Summer_2018
P. 23
ON FACULTY
FOCUS Anne Kreyssig
by Anne Kressig
Coordinated by newsletter committee member, Nancy Kilpatrick, retired HHS faculty
Maine is a beautiful and captivating state, and northern Maine is particularly inviting, so it is no surprise to
me that my husband Glenn and I decided to relocate here from Rhode Island shortly after we were married. With
a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and a CPA certificate, I had been working in auditing, corporate finance, and financial
consulting since my graduation from the University of Rhode Island in 1980. However, after relocating to Maine and having a
child, our only daughter Stephannie, we decided I would be a “stay-at-home mom” until Stephannie was ready for school. When
Stephannie started kindergarten at the Wellington School in 1997, my teaching career was born, as I accepted my first of many
assignments as a substitute in the RSU 29 district.
While my career as a teacher began in 1997, I think the roots of an English teacher have been with me since childhood because education
was highly valued by my family. My mother’s love of words combined with my father speaking three languages certainly sparked my love of
English! Although my own placement in high school was on a Math-Science Accelerated track, I recall taking every English course my high
school offered. It seems inevitable that, after working for several years as a substitute teacher and then as the instructor for a Junior Great
Books program for gifted students, I would begin taking the courses needed to obtain my teaching certificate. I continued to work while
studying, began my first full-time teaching position at Houlton Jr./Sr. High school in the fall of 2005, and earned my Master’s Degree in
Language Education in 2010. I worked for nine years teaching English Language Arts at the 7th and 8th grade levels, and then moved to
high school as a freshman English teacher in 2014.
As corny as it sounds, being a freshman English teacher really is my dream come true! The challenges of teaching today are, in many
respects, much as I imagine they were many years ago. At the secondary level, my clientele is comprised of adolescents, who, by their
very nature, are unpredictable, volatile, and emerging into their own sense of what it means to be. Teachers tame, and mold and guide,
this restless spirit, while experiencing an awakening of their own. Loving teaching means loving learning. Loving learning means loving
knowledge. Loving knowledge means cherishing all that awaits our children as they venture out into the world. And who would think that
a teacher of teens could possibly come to love each one as if he or she were her very own? I believe it is the untamed part of that restless
teenage spirit that captures our hearts and awakens our minds to the memories of childhood in adulthood—the teacher gives of herself no
doubt, but the rewards are beyond compare!
NEWS FROM THE NET
By Fred Grant ’88
Hello from the NET!! This Spring has been a busy season for internet related activity for the Alumni
Association and you should check out what we’ve been up to. Our 2018 graduates have now become
official alumni and the Alumni Association video streamed both the Last Chapel ceremony and
graduation. If you would like to watch either event (and I suggest you do), please visit either the Houlton High School Alumni Association
Facebook page or the website. Both events can be found there. For the Last Chapel ceremony you’ll be impressed with the amount of
scholarships the graduates received. At graduation you’ll be impressed by many things including the student speeches, the community
support and of course our new graduates!
Also happening this Spring was coverage of the Houlton High School boy’s baseball team. The team made it to the State class C Finals
and while another company covered that game, you can watch both the regional semi-final AND regional final on the Facebook page of
WHOU radio or at WHOUfm.com. Both games were excellent and as an alumni you’ll be proud to see the team come away with wins in
both games.
I hope to see you over the summer and I especially like touching base with other alumni I’ve never met. If you get a chance, please swing in
and say hi at the WHOU studio located on the 2nd floor of the post office building in Houlton. Until then I’ll see you… On the Net!
www.houltonalumni.com PAGE 23