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Triple threat: New English teachers bring passion, years of experience

Ainsley Bass, Vivienne Fox, and Angel Huang

October 18, 2024

Maggie Hester

Colby Ornell, Rebecca Ahrens and Edward Young (left to right) join the Upper School English faculty.

New English Faculty

Ainsley Bass, Vivienne Fox, and Angel Huang

Rebecca Ahrens

After a decade working in museums, Rebecca Ahrens was losing her passion for visual arts. As she considered other careers, and with the help of a life coach, she discovered her true passion in teaching literature.

Ahrens, who holds an Art History degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a masters in teaching from Rice University, currently teaches sophomore English.

Upon graduating from UCLA, Ahrens worked in museums in Los Angeles, then moved to Houston in 2015 to work at the Menil Collection, a museum that exhibits the art collection of founders John de Menil and Dominique de Menil, but “something was missing,” Ahrens said.

Since her father was an English teacher, Ahrens always had a love for literature, yet she had no interest in working in the same field.

During an intensive six weeks, Ahrens focused on her life goals and how she wanted to impact the world. “I kept coming back to the idea of education and helping to shape the future,” she said. Once she decided to devote her time to education, she pursued her teaching degree.

Poetry is her favorite aspect of literature. While the “obscurity” of poetry is intimidating for some students, it is what makes poetry so appealing to Ahrens.

“Poetry’s openness to interpretation makes it a rich site for exploration and discussion about how language works,” she said. “With poetry, I love the economy of language—you have to think about the words that you’re using more than you would in prose.”

Before coming to St. John’s, Ahrens taught at the Emery/Weiner School for two years, which she described as “a wonderful and supportive community that allowed me to experiment and build service and project-based learning into the curriculum.”

Even though Ahrens switched to literature, her love for the visual arts never wavered. One of her hobbies is making ceramics. “I'll go to the ceramic studio after work for a few hours and make mugs,” Ahrens said.

Despite the difference between art and literature, Ahrens sees a connection. “Whether you're viewing a painting or reading a text, there is something about the maker that comes through about their time period and their culture.”

Colby Ornell

Colby Ornell finds interest in true crime. While pursuing her doctoral degree in creative writing, she stumbled upon the League City Killing Fields, a series of unsolved murders dating back to the 1970s. The story was so fascinating, she chose to write about it and small-town violence in general for her dissertation. Ornell felt attached to the story, having family members that grew up and lived in League City, located 30 miles South of Houston.

Ornell received her bachelor’s in English Literature and Education in 2014 from Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, a MFA in Creative Writing in 2018 from Butler University in Indianapolis, and a PhD in Creative Writing last year from the University of Houston.

While pursuing her doctorate, Ornell began teaching high school students through community outreach programs for five years before becoming a lecturer and instructor at the University of Houston. Ornell taught first-year writing, introduction to literature and creative writing. At St. John’s, she teaches English I and the creative writing elective.

Although she considers vocabulary and grammar important parts of her English courses, literary analysis is the most important aspect. “The most interesting thing is what [students] have to say and the sort of different perspectives people bring to it,” she said.

Ornell wants her students to deeply understand and learn from literature. “There's an enormous amount that you can learn from books, even if you don’t like them,” Ornell said.

Ornell first heard about St. John’s from her UH teaching assistant, an SJS graduate who constantly raved about the School.

Ultimately, Ornell came to SJS because she feels that the relationship between a high school student and teacher is more unique than a college student and professor. In a high school environment, teachers and students meet more often and thus create a stronger bond.

“It's hard to have the kind of classroom community that it's possible to have at a school, especially a smaller independent school like St. John's,” Ornell said.

Beyond the classroom, Ornell enjoys writing short prose pieces and has had a few works published. When she writes, she is fond of playing around with genres, creating pieces that fit many different classifications and writing about things personal to her. Ornell cites her dissertation as one of her most interesting pieces.

Ornell’s advice to aspiring writers is to, “write what you know, write what you feel, but also write what is unique to you.”

Eddie Young

For years, Eddie Young rooted against St. John’s.

Young attended St. Mark’s School in Dallas for elementary and middle school. Little did he know, one day he would teach English at a rival school.

Early on, Young felt passionate about both reading and writing and dreamed about being a writer or a part of the publishing industry. He also considered a career in education.

“I've always liked school,” Young said. “And so when I was in college, I started to think more seriously about becoming a teacher.”

In 2005, Young earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and Creative Writing from Pomona College in Claremont, California, and later a masters in English Literature from Middlebury College in Vermont.

During his senior year at Pomona College, Young chose to pursue education over publishing.

Part of Young’s decision to become a teacher was a summer program he worked at as an undergrad where he realized he enjoyed the classroom environment as not only a student, but also as an instructor.

Before he came to St. John’s, Young taught for 19 years at the Kent Denver School. “All independent schools have a lot in common in terms of students who are invested in their learning,”

Reflecting on his first few weeks as a freshman, junior and AP language English teacher, Young says he has enjoyed his time working with the students.

“The thing that I really like about St. John's students is that they are up for a challenge,” Young said.

His primary goal as a teacher is to ensure that his students have the tools to write and think effectively. He hopes to build a classroom environment where his students will feel confident, engaged and collaborative.

Beyond the classroom, Young enjoys writing short stories, attending English conferences and participating in writing workshops.

“A lot of stuff that I write about is inspired by my experiences at school,” Young said.

Young is optimistic about the rest of the school year and is looking forward to what his students will accomplish.

About the Contributors

Ainsley Bass, Staff Writer

Ainsley Bass (‘28) joined The Review in 2024 as a freshman. Her favorite subject is math, and she doesn’t get stressed easily (especially not over math).

Vivienne Fox, Staff Writer

Vivienne Fox (‘28) joined The Review in 2024 as a freshman. She is an only child and can do the alphabet aerobics.

Angel Huang, Staff Writer

Angel Huang (‘28) joined The Review in 2024 as a freshman. She has a dog named Mocha, and her favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate.

Maggie Hester, Staff Writer

Maggie Hester ('26) joined The Review in 2023 as a sophomore.