This year, Manitou Springs High School welcomes a new history teacher, Kae Tillery. Students and staff are excited to welcome Tillery as a new member of the community. Tillery is a first year teacher and is excited to start their teaching career at MSHS. Tillery completed their student teaching last year at the Vanguard School.
As a new teacher, Tillery knows they have a lot to learn and gain from their teaching experience. “I’m just really excited to grow not only as a teacher, but as a person,” they said.
Tillery was inspired to teach because they wanted to create that safe environment for their students. “I had kind of a rough childhood, and so school really was like my only safe place,” Tillery said. “Starting from a really young age, I just found a lot of comfort and safety in being in the school.”
Tillery came in this year not only prepared to teach history but also form close relationships with students. “As a teacher, it’s really nice to be part of a small school because I get to know my students on a really personal level,” Tillery said.
Amanda Kerrigan, an English teacher and Tillery’s mentor at MSHS believes that Tillery came to MSHS ready to teach. “They came in really super passionate and prepared,” Kerrigan said.
Kerrigan feels that Tillery has done a great job creating a safe and welcoming environment where students want to spend their time. “I would say that they’ve been exceptionally good at creating a safe space in the classroom,” Kerrigan said. “I’ve noticed lots of students like to spend time there.”
Tillery feels great about teaching new classes so far but they said that they have faced the challenge of having to navigate some of their classes without guidance from others. “I think that’s kind of like the biggest challenge of coming to a new school and being a first year teacher and having classes that no one else teaches.”
Annya Vasquez, a junior at MSHS, thinks that Tillery maintains a comfortable and safe space for all of their students to spend their time in the classroom. “They keep a good environment for all of us to feel comfortable talking about whatever we want to talk about,” Vasquez said.
Vasquez appreciates the way Tillery approaches the class. “The way they talk to us and teach us is very relateable,” she said.
Tillery believes that no matter what, the most important part of teaching is to be there for the students. “And that’s the most important part, is just showing up and at the end of the day, those relationships are what matters more than anything else,” Tillery said.
