SCHS’s new English teacher Annie Breger joins the staff through her childhood friend and English department chair Hannah Blue.
Breger and Blue met in their youth due to their mothers’ friendship in the family group “Moms and Kids.” Breger previously worked at Gunderson High School in San Jose but had been wanting a change of scenery when Blue reached out asking her to apply.
“I just wanted more opportunities,” Breger said. “I wanted to be able to apply my teaching skills in a different place with a more diverse population, which is partly why Santa Clara really appealed to me. And the rest is history.”
Ever since she was a teen, Breger knew she wanted to be a teacher. She originally set out to be a math teacher and pursued a major in it at University of California, Davis. After losing interest, however, she decided to switch to English due to her passion for reading.
“I think that with English, you can really get a window into other cultures, other societies and other types of people that otherwise you just will never have the opportunity to meet or get to know or even understand,” Breger said.
Not only did Breger pursue academics at UC Davis, but she also worked in numerous positions for intramural sports – all inclusive noncompetitive sports that do not require try outs. She trained new referees and managed the logistics of teams. Breger shared that her time working with intramural sports has supported her interactions with students in her classroom today.
“I would be very much interacting with the different participants and asking how they were doing, trying to make a few jokes to get them even more engaged with the questions,” Breger said. “I’ve taken some of that job experience that I had into how I teach. I try to be funny, try to interact with them (students). I’m very energetic when I teach.”
Breger believes that her passion for teaching has made her a uniquely optimistic teacher. She often attempts to share her high energy with her students in order to ensure a safe and pleasant learning environment.
“It almost feels like I’m on stage… I’m very much in a heightened, excited, extroverted state where I’m trying to get everyone engaged and everyone excited about the material because I understand that not everyone loves English or even likes English,” Breger said. “I try to make the environment of the classroom an exciting place so that maybe they can feed off my energy a little bit and connect with the material a bit more because they feel comfortable.”
So far, Breger feels that her experience at SCHS has been positive and enjoys growing with her students.
“Every student, whether I have them in my class or not, they’re very friendly, they’re very welcoming,” Breger said. “They just make my job enjoyable. I like helping them learn and seeing them on their learning journey.”
One of Breger’s goals is to invite her students to enjoy their lives as both teenagers and students. She encourages them to find what brings them joy, and believes all students deserve the right and opportunity to find their place and explore what the world has to offer.
“The biggest advice that I would give my students is ‘Do it,’” Breger said. “In high school, there are so many opportunities, academically, socially, athletically and beyond that you should really take advantage of the time that you have in high school because it’s really special and they’re very formative years of your life.”