Cozied up in room 18A, Ms. Wakefield can be found surrounded by her numerous posters and shelves of books. Her dedication to teaching ESL students and AP English Language and Composition students alike has earned her 2025 Teacher of the Year. From advising the Environmental Advocacy Club and attending their park clean-ups to coming up with creative ways to teach the material, Ms. Wakefield has shown endless dedication to her students.
- What subjects do you teach?
- English Language Development 3 and AP English Lang
- How many years have you taught at Westmont?
- 8 years, 9 counting student teaching
- What do you enjoy about teaching?
- All of it! First and foremost I love interacting with the students. I love English. I love language. I love what you can do with it most of the time. I like watching students make connections—getting them to feel something for the characters and experience books and novels in the way I experience them, getting emotionally attached to Lenny, and caring about what happens to the characters. It shows they’re invested in the story. I like learning things from them. You can do so much with education, and that’s why I became a teacher because I think it opens doors. Nobody can prevent you from getting an education except yourself.
- What do you enjoy about Westmont?
- The students and staff. I enjoy working with my colleagues. I love the variety of clubs we offer. I like the diverse group of students, but one of my favorite things is walking out to the teacher parking lot, and seeing the mountains in the distance just brings me a lot of peace because I love the mountains. I love the idea that we’re in this valley-ish area, the location of Westmont is pretty fantastic. The admin, my colleagues in my departments, and colleagues outside of the English department are all really supportive.
- What college did you attend?
- Santa Clara University (“Go Broncos!”)
- What makes a teacher great to you?
- It’s a teacher that tries, I think. They try new things and they don’t stop trying to improve in some way shape or form. I think when teachers stop trying, thats when their craft stagnates a little bit and I just hope to be the best version of myself as a teacher, which is a work in progress. I’m not perfect at all, by any means, but I try every day and that’s also something I ask of my students, that they try instead of just throwing in the towel. A great teacher also has a lot of empathy—for their colleagues, for their students, and for each other.
- What are you involved in on campus?
- Advises Environmental Advocacy Club and Baking Club, participates in the Westmont Book Club