This year, Colonia High School had a change in power; after 14 years of teaching English, Ms. Jennifer Murphy became one of Colonia’s New Vice Principal.
Before becoming a teacher at CHS, Mrs. Murphy taught two years of English at Colton Junior High School in California, and then 12 years of English at CHS. After teaching for 14 years she became the Head of the English and World Languages Department. Murphy has a passion for teaching but also enjoyed being the Department Head.
Ms. Murphy loved teaching students that really had no interest in literature. She felt that if she could change their views on English and make them appreciate literature, then she felt like she had made a difference. Murphy felt that every year that she taught was great and therefore she didn’t have a favorite year.
Changing into the lead role as CHS’s Vice Principal Murphy now gets to experience new challenges throughout this job position. By accepting this job this past summer, she gets to assist the whole student body instead of previously only being able to impact the students in her classes. Murphy feels this position will be very interesting but also supply her with massive amounts of work. In her words, this new experience will be “cool.”
Since Ms. Murphy had to step down from her position as the Head of English Department, English teacher Ms. DiChiara was appointed as the new Head of the English Department. When asked about her new position, DiChiara explained, “ I have really big shoes to fill and only hope to do as good as a job as she [Murphy] did.”
Even Murphy had minor fears throughout her years at CHS. She would go on to explain, the butterflies she felt when communicating with fellow colleagues, parents, and even students would occasionally sneak up on her. Now, these fears would come across more likely when communicating with a large amount of people. She believed the fears is caused by her hope that she was speaking clear enough.
Her fears were not noticed by coworkers because they look up to her. Ms. DiChiara went on to say, “I look up to her as my mentor; I don’t call her Super Murph for nothing.” Ms. DiChiara believes the pressure is on for her to rise to the standards Murphy has set for her.
Marc Alston • Nov 22, 2013 at 8:16 am
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