Photo courtesy of Clarissa Gillham.
Teacher Clarissa Gillham returned to Hastings Senior High School as an FCS teacher after leaving three years ago.
When Gillham was in high school, she involved herself in various activities, but her favorite class was Family Consumer Science (FCS). The sense of safety and the readiness to help others pushed her to her current career choice.
“My home life growing up was not the best,” Gillham said. “My family consumer science teacher was kinda my go-to person, and I think through that relationship, it kind of blossomed into [this].”
Gillham’s FCS teacher, Ann Mann, was the one she turned to for guidance. She saw Mann as a role model, someone she could go to when she needed help.
“She had a big impact on me and I kinda wanted to be able to [help] others,” Gillham said.
Gillham is endorsed in FCS Education for students in grades six through twelve. She attended Wayne State College, taking 20 credits per semester and completing her degree in three and a half years, when it takes the average person five years.
”I just [wanted to] hurry up, get done, and be able to live on my own,” Gillham said.
Gillham taught at HHS for eight years before leaving to teach at Grand Island Senior High because she was living there at the time. Though convenient, she did not enjoy teaching Culinary and Fundamentals of Food and Nutrition, so she decided to return to HHS and to continue pursuing her passion of teaching FCS.
“I really like sharing my stories with the [FCS] students, and they’re more interested in it because of that,” Gillham said. “I also think they’re skills that everyone needs for society to improve.”
Gillham returns not just to continue teaching FCS, but to share advice she has learned from changing schools with other teachers.
“If they are able to, definitely try to get classroom experience before committing to it. It’s definitely harder than people think once they’re actually in the classroom,” Gillham said. “I personally know some friends, who once they got their teaching certificate and actually started teaching, found out, ‘Maybe I don’t like this situation.’”
