After taking a break for over a year, Jamie Hewitt joined the Coppell High School staff this school year, hoping to make students feel more comfortable about learning Spanish.

She is teaching two Spanish II classes and four Honors Spanish III classes.

Hewitt’s interest for the language started in her Hortonville High school Spanish class.

“I started learning Spanish in high school, and I immediately fell in love with the culture and language,” Hewitt said. 

Throughout her high school career, Hewitt broadened her interest in Spanish and was given the chance to visit Costa Rica and Mexico to work with kids.

“That is when I put the two together and knew that I wanted to teach kids,” Hewitt said.

After her exhilarating experience in Costa Rica and Mexico, and completing her undergraduate from Valparaiso University in Indiana, Hewitt studied abroad for college in Mexico and Spain which deepened her love and passion for the culture even more. Hewitt then did her graduate work with the University of Phoenix.

Before moving to Coppell ISD three years ago, Hewitt taught in Hortonville high school in Wisconsin, Alliance charter school in downtown L.A., Palos Verdes middle and high school and Manhattan Beach middle school. She also took a break from teaching for three years to attend to her children in their young age.

Despite her break from teaching, Hewitt is very excited to teach students a language which can open new doors.

“I love finding how I can help [students] love Spanish even more. [I also] just like finding out about them on a personal level, so we can fit their interests in learning the language,” Hewitt said.

Many students in her classroom today can feel her enthusiasm for the subject, including CHS sophomore Pranavi Gandikota.

“Although she is a new teacher and I do not know her that well, I can still feel the energy that she radiates for the subject. She is not here to just teach us some random words, but she is here to teach us a whole new way of communicating,” Gandikota said.

Even though Hewitt has spent many years learning the language, she is still worried if she will be able to do a good job making sure her students will be where they need to be by the end of the year.

Amid the nervousness of the new school year, Hewitt hopes that she will be able to meet new students and staff members, form lifelong connections and open new doors.

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