If all goes according to plan, two valuable members of Gilroy
High School’s staff will swap homes and jobs with two Mexican
teachers next school year.
If all goes according to plan, two valuable members of Gilroy High School’s staff will swap homes and jobs with two Mexican teachers next school year.
Spanish I and II teacher, Gretchen Yoder-Schrock, and Migrant Education Director Kermit Schrock received approval from the Board of Education and the Gilroy Unified School District to apply for the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program for the 2008-2009 school year.
The Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program gives teachers and school administrators worldwide the chance to submerge themselves in the culture and history of their host country and use a year’s worth of experience to enrich their teaching perspective upon returning home. If Fulbright accepts the Schrocks into the prestigious and competitive program, the couple will move their family to Mexico for a year and two Mexican teachers will take their place at GHS. Although they will still be paid their regular salary by the GUSD, the Schrocks will make themselves at home in their Mexican counterpart’s house and profession.
A longtime member of the Gilroy community, Kermit Schrock has worked in the district since 1989 where he started as a Spanish and “core” subject area teacher at South Valley and Brownell middle schools. He is currently at GHS in the Migrant Education and ELD Department. No longer teaching in the classroom, he works to address the needs of the English learners on campus through data analysis. He also leads the Spanish-speaking parent meetings at GHS. Although Schrock said he misses teaching, he enjoys his current work. Gretchen Yoder-Schrock grew up in Gilroy, graduated from GHS, and has been teaching Spanish at GHS since 2003. Their two children, Jacob and Sabine, attend the dual-immersion program at Las Animas Elementary.
“Before we had kids, we lived in Ecuador for a year,” Yoder-Schrock said. “My experience abroad really enhances my language skills and what I can do in the classroom. The beauty of this program is that it doesn’t just affect the teachers that are going, but it widely effects the students, staff and community.”
Spanish is often the spoken language of choice in the Schrock household. They have instilled in their children a deep appreciation for the language and their first- and third-grader speak as well as some of her high school students, Yoder-Schrock said.
“I think it’s important that they learn a second language,” she said of her children. “Spanish has been so fun to learn and I get to meet so many more people because I speak another language.” Her children are excited at the prospect of moving to another country. Although Sabine, 6, is too young to predict how her life will change if the Schrocks move to Mexico for a year, Yoder-Schrock said the potential move hit home with Jacob, 8, when she and her husband began talking about the program more at home.
“There’s some good sides and bad sides,” Jacob Schrock said. “We will meet new friends and we’ll get to see how they celebrate there, but we might paint my room this summer and if we do and we move, we won’t be able to enjoy it.”
Although the Schrocks are modest about their experience and don’t want to get their hopes up about the program until the final decision is made in January, district staff is confident in their qualifications.
“They brought the form to me and if I didn’t think it would have been an interesting thing, I wouldn’t have recommended them,” Principal James Maxwell said of exchanging two of his staff for foreign teachers. “It will be good for the kids, good for the school and good for the community.”
“We love the idea of having another country send a teacher,” said Basha Millhollen, assistant superintendent of educational services. She believes their unique experience in a foreign country will help them “sharpen their sword” and that they will bring that knowledge back to enhance Gilroy’s schools.
Trustee Rhoda Bress voted to approve the Schrocks’ request to apply for the Fulbright and praised their capabilities openly. The Schrocks taught her sons Spanish and she remembers them as inspiring teachers.
“They are both outstanding educators and have made enormous contributions to the GUSD,” Bress said. “We wanted our children to have that love for and knowledge of a second language. It’s a critical part of being a well-educated person.”
The Schrocks have two more months until they receive news of the decision but, for now, they are keeping their fingers crossed.
