Michelle Nicolai
College: University of Oregon, George Fox University
Before Grant: Floyd Light Middle School, De La Salle High School, Bridger Elementary School
Position: Spanish 3/4, instructional specialist
Michelle Nicolai never pictured herself as a teacher until she lived abroad in Spain after college and was forced to find a temporary job. “I found so much potential in this career, and that really lit a fire in me to become an activist as a teacher,” says Nicolai. “My (graduate) program made me realize that I could have an impact, and that teaching is a platform that I can use to help make the world a better place, and I was really attracted to that.”
In her free time, Nicolai loves reading, dancing, trying new restaurants, traveling and writing. In high school, she always wanted to be an actress, getting involved in every school play. Although she doesn’t act much anymore, she still loves going to the theater and incorporating role plays into her teaching. “I guess you could sum up what I like to do with that: I really love to try new things,” says Nicolai. “(I) just put myself out there, because I think when you try new things, you discover what you like and what you don’t, and that’s always information about who you are.”
Recently, Nicolai was given a Fulbright scholarship – a prestigious grant awarded to American citizens to encourage international research. She will be traveling to Mexico from September through December to research and collect the hidden stories of Afro-Mexicans, who are descendents of slaves brought to Mexico in the sixteenth century. “They are an integral part of what it means to be Mexican, and if we ignore that, we’re ignoring a piece of our identity as a nation,” says Nicolai.
When she returns to Grant, she hopes to incorporate what she has learned into her teaching.
Another goal of Nicolai’s is to change the dismissive mindset surrounding Spanish. She hopes to do this by teaching students to view language as an opportunity to build compassion and to see the world with a different perspective. “I mean, we can’t change our race, but we can speak another language, and by doing so, learn to shift our vision a little so we can understand the world from another person’s perspective, culturally speaking,” she says.
Shelah Kelso
College: University of California – Los Angeles, Lewis and Clark College
Before Grant: AmeriCorps volunteer
Position: social studies teacher
As a former AmeriCorps volunteer, Shelah Kelso’s goal is to help kids find their path to success. After college, Kelso worked with AmeriCorps to help kids from low income areas have access to college and career opportunities. “I wanted to do something where I could help kids and give back to my community that I had been a part of,” she says.
Kelso’s passion for helping others stemmed from her own high school experience. While in high school, Kelso had her son, Caleb. Balancing academics and taking care of her son was difficult, but Kelso’s teachers supported her unconditionally. They would buy Tupperwares that she sold to make extra money, take her shopping when she couldn’t afford to buy herself a coat and give her rides home when needed. “I think that that just inspired me,” says Kelso. “And that’s the root of why I wanted to be a teacher.”
Kelso was a student teacher at Grant last year, and will be returning as a part of the Career and Technical Education program. She looks forward to becoming more involved in the Grant community. “I like that they’re willing to take people as they are and work with everyone, from all walks of life,” she says. “That’s exciting to me.”
Outside of the classroom, Kelso enjoys hiking, swimming, spending time with her husband and son and doing Jiu Jitsu, which she describes as “empowering.” Feeling empowered is important to her, and she wants to help pass this on to her students, because it was what kept her going in high school. “I feel like I needed to know that no matter what I was going through, I still had the power and the ability to change my life, and make it better,” she says. “That’s, like, one of the reasons I really like Career and Technical Education. Because it helps students get a sample of what kind of job or career they could have post high school … It’s nice to be able to feel empowered, but also to give that to others.”
Nick Fenger
College: Milwaukee School of Engineering, Portland State University
Before Grant: Scappoose School District, Trillium Charter School
Position: computer science
Nick Fenger has been fascinated by computers from a young age. Growing up, his father was an engineer, which fostered Fenger’s own interest in technology. Fenger recalls bringing home a computer in middle school, a rarity in the 1980s. He learned some simple programming, making little characters dance across the screen. “It was kind of just the beginning of figuring things out, so it was really exciting,” he says.
After growing up in the Midwest, Fenger and his wife were drawn to the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Fenger moved to Portland in 2001, and fell in love with the outdoors. He enjoys spending his free time cycling, backpacking and mountain biking.
Once he became an engineer, Fenger realized he wanted to use his skills in technical and mechanical engineering to teach others. “A lot of people got computers for the first time in my office working there, and they would always ask for help,” he says. “So I started teaching people informally.”
Fenger then realized he wanted to pursue a career that would allow him to work with kids, and teach people important life skills.
This year, Fenger is going to be teaching several computer science classes at Grant. “I’m excited to teach an elective, and I’m excited about the career-related aspect,” he says. “It really kind of brings everything together for me.”
Andee Short
College: George Washington University, Lewis and Clark University
Before Grant: Virtual Scholars program, staff policy advisor to Oregon legislature
Position: social studies, AVID
Andee Short always imagined she would be a teacher. “I love learning. Being that lifelong learner and engaging with students is really fun for me,” she says.
Although teaching was always a part of her life, Short didn’t decide to make it her profession until volunteering for nine years as a coach for the Grant Constitution Team. After working as the staff policy advisor for the speaker of the state house, Tina Kotek, she left to attend graduate school and pursue her dream of teaching. She says, “I remember thinking, ‘Alright, this has been a change I’ve been wanting to make for a long time, because this is something I know I enjoy, and I’d like to do long term.’”
Short was raised in Portland, Ore., and is a Grant High School alum. In high school, she was a member of the Constitution Team herself, which is what inspired her to become a coach later on. She became very active in local politics, acting as the chair of an Oregon-based political action committee for what will be her ninth year. The mission of the group is to help prepare women to run for state legislation and government positions by raising money for the candidates and providing mentorship programs. By doing this, Short is able to make a difference in something she is passionate about.
This is Short’s first year teaching full-time and she is eager to help students learn and discover new things. “It is just wonderful for me to see when students get really excited or engaged about something that they feel like they can change,” she says.
Zach Cash
College: Lycoming College, University of Colorado
Before Grant: counselor at Alder Creek Middle School, child abuse investigator
Position: counselor
Zach Cash has always wanted to help children. When he decided it was something he wanted to pursue as a career, he began looking for opportunities. After college, he began working for Child and Family Services in Pennsylvania as a child abuse investigator. He found that he was able to help his students be successful once he got to know them better and understand where they were coming from — skills that Cash believes are applicable in all parts of life.
However, after a couple years, he felt worn out, and decided to switch gears. He went back to graduate school to become a counselor, but the experiences he had as a child abuse investigator stayed with him. “(This job) helped me understand that people go through a lot,” Cash says. “It helped me work with students and see them in a different light.”
As a kid, Cash enjoyed school. Growing up, his mother was a teacher, so he was taught to appreciate education. He wanted to help students who struggled with school, which is what drew him to becoming a counselor. “I was always interested in wanting to be a person that helped kids get connected with school, and like school, and be successful in life,” says Cash.
Cash also enjoys photography, hiking and spending time with his family. He and his family recently moved from Las Vegas to Portland. “I’m just really excited,” he says. “(I love) getting to see students reach their goals and just light up, feeling that success and being proud of themselves. Just being there to witness that is heartwarming and an amazing experience.”
Anne St. Amant
College: Portland State University
Before Grant: Cleveland High School
Position: government, economics, Living in the US
Coming from a multiracial family, Anne St. Amant often felt like she didn’t fit in.
St. Amant was born in San Francisco, but moved to a suburb outside of Baltimore as a child. Immediately, the contrast of these places was evident; San Francisco was much more diverse, culturally and ideologically, than her new suburban home. She felt invisible as a biracial person in a school full of white people, and disappointed by the absence of empowerment for people of color in the curriculum.
Growing up, St. Amant wasn’t fond of school. Her only goal was to get good grades as the retention of actual knowledge passed her by. She developed an interest in teaching, hoping that she could make school enjoyable and teach students about world issues from a different perspective. As an English and social studies teacher, St. Amant incorporates issues of race into her lessons. “I like to teach through uprisings and revolutions in the positive light,” she says. “I feel like that’s what’s lacking.”
Due to the lack of diversity she experienced growing up, St. Amant has a strong desire to instill an appreciation of diversity in others. She wants to educate her students on the positive experiences of people of color — lessons that she was denied while she attended school. “That’s my idea. Interrupting the troupe of the struggle of the brown person,” she says.
St. Amant loves reading to expand her knowledge, especially about history, and also enjoys hiking and traveling. St. Amant is excited to teach at Grant – a new challenge after eleven years of working at Cleveland.
While she used to feel out of place, St. Amant realizes that she is able to straddle two different cultures and perspectives, allowing her to relate to a greater range of people. St. Amant now views being of mixed race as an aid to her understanding of the world.
John Beck
College: Southern Oregon University
Before Grant: Hermiston High School, Sam Barlow High School, North Medford High School, Crater High School
Position: PE/health teacher, head football coach
It was the long line of teachers and coaches John Beck came from that led him to get involved in education. His grandmother won National Teacher of the Year, his dad coached college and high school level baseball and his grandfather played professional baseball. This combination of valuing a strong education and competitive spirit along with his passion to help others inspired Beck to become an educator and coach himself. “(I wanted to) help kids develop and get them to be the best person they can be in life,” he says.
As a kid, he was heavily involved in athletics, playing football, basketball, baseball and wrestling. He was also interested in music, playing percussion in the school band through his sophomore year of high school. Between music, sports and his job working on a farm, Beck developed a strong work ethic from an early age. “I mean, nobody out-works me. I don’t care who you are. That’s just not gonna happen,” he says.
However, he eventually found he did not have enough time for all three if he wanted to excel. This is when he began to put all of his free time into sports. “To be good, you have to put in a lot of time, and a lot of practice, to perfect your craft,” he says.
He passes this attitude on to his kids. He loves watching his daughter dance, and attending his son’s athletic events. “We do everything as a family; family is super important to us,” he says.
Now, coming to Grant, Beck hopes to use football as a chance to reach out to as many students in the community as possible. He wants to create opportunities for everyone to be involved in the football program, not just players. “That’s one of my goals for Grant football, is to expand it, to you know, help more kids. That’s my thing,” says Beck.
Alex Luboff
College: Lewis and Clark College
Before Grant: social worker, furniture maker, carpenter, tile setter, environmental science teacher, sailing teacher, instructor for nonprofit that builds boats for students
Position: architectural drawing
Alex Luboff describes his path to Grant as a “winding road.” This description seems fitting, considering that on his way to becoming the architectural drawing teacher at Grant, he has worked more than a half-dozen different, unique jobs. Among these, he credits his work at the Wind and Oar Boat School as the most influential in leading him to his teaching position this year.
The Wind and Oar Boat School is a nonprofit dedicated to engaging and inspiring youth through the art, science and craft of building wooden boats. Luboff used to be the lead instructor there. This allowed him to go into schools and teach students about boats, prompting him to contemplate teaching. “That was a chance for me to get into the classroom and to see how I liked teaching in a classroom setting, and I’d say that kind of opened up my consideration of the classroom and teaching a little more,” Luboff says.
Luboff’s time as a social service worker in Seattle also influenced him to teach. There, he was assigned to a drop-in center and a few transitional houses. This helped him to build the social skills needed to teach. “Doing social work, it’s important for me to connect with people,” he says. “I think that through that work, I learned a lot about all of the different experiences that some people have in the world.”
Luboff came to Grant last year as the makerspace coordinator. This year, because of his background in woodworking and building, he will be taking over the role of teaching architectural drawing. “My interests in being a woodworker and a builder have sort of come together with my interest in education the last few years, and so I’ve been combining a hands-on experience with outdoor education and hands-on education … and just continuing that through teaching at Grant,” he says.
With all of this past experience, Luboff clearly has the tools to succeed at Grant. “I think that my experience laid the foundation of inquisitiveness and critical-thinking that I brought with me,” he says.
Christina Aucutt
College: University of Wisconsin – La Crosse, Portland State University
Before Grant: Archaeologist, Reynolds High School, Gresham High School, Trillium Charter School
Position: forensics, chemistry
In 1999, Christina Aucutt was away on a dig in Kettle Falls, Washington when she saw the news about the Columbine shooting on her hotel TV. Aucutt was working as an archaeologist at the time. “I remember thinking, why am I doing this?” she says. “I have a masters in education, why am I working as an archaeologist? I should be in the schools, trying to help make a difference.” After her realization, Aucutt decided to get her credentials back in place and become a teacher.
Aucutt found her passion for teaching children as a swim instructor in high school. After college she could not find a teaching job, so she turned to her degree in archaeology. While she was an archaeologist, she volunteered with the SMART program, helping children learn how to read. Prior to working at Grant, Aucutt taught at Trillium Charter School, a community-based alternative school in North Portland. At Trillium, Aucutt enjoyed building close, profound relationships with each of her students. She hopes that she will be able to build similar relationships with students at Grant. “It’s just working with kids,” Aucutt says. “There’s nothing better.”
When Aucutt isn’t teaching, she loves to travel and do all kinds of outdoor activities, including skiing, hiking, biking, running and gardening. She also likes taking science classes, for the benefit of herself and her students. For Aucutt, teaching is a career that she enjoys and that she can feel good about. “It’s really cool to be able to teach students, and be able to see (them) get excited,” Aucutt says. “It is very fulfilling to be able to foster learning in students.”
