This year, Casa Grande introduced many new staff members. Mrs. Crowley is one of them, and she teaches Geography, World History, and Success 101. And so far, she loves it. One of her students described Mrs. Crowley as “energetic, friendly, and fun.”

Mrs. Crowley attended Santa Rosa Junior College and has a bachelors in history and political science from the Dominican University of California.

Before teaching here at Casa, she taught 8th graders at Scotts Valley Middle School for Leadership, History, and English for 5 years. “It’s good to see that a lot of students are more mature in high school but still energetic and fun,” said Crowley.

When asked why she adores teaching history, she said it’s because she enjoys telling stories. She really looks forward to teaching the Cold War and the Great Wars. But If she could’ve taught another school subject, she would’ve chosen math. “It’s really organized and it’s like history where it’s tough to teach but when you understand it’s really rewarding.” She even likes to help people with their math work during advisory.

In her free time, she likes to spend time with her husband, cooking, and she loves to dance. She likes to do line dance as well as Greek dance. She enjoys performing Greek dance because it’s a good way to connect to her culture. Another thing Crowley likes to do when she isn’t teaching or dancing is traveling. She helped chaperone the Washington DC trip for 4 years. She likes traveling with students because “it’s such a different environment where you can see them have adventures and it’s fun to see them so excited.” She also went to watch the Hamilton Musical in New York with her family. She helped choreographed musicals at Scotts Valley Middle School when she was 23 years old. “I choreographed 11 musicals at my old school. A lot of Disney but classics too like Wizard of Oz. The last one was Shrek. Did Newsies and Frozen.”

But before teaching at Casa Grande, she actually attended as a student, and graduated with the class of 2015. When asked who was her inspiration as a teacher, she said she “admired Todd for how he always encouraged his students to think critically, and Ms. Fontaine because she was always a flexible and kind teacher.” She even said she was a teacher’s assistant for Ms. Fontaine.

One of Mrs. Crowley’s goals for working at Casa is to get even more involved with the school and its events. “I wanna get involved with more ASB events and be a bigger part of the arts program and help support the teachers that work there. The more you get involved the more people you know.” She really loves Casa and its community. So far, she’s a part of leading the Class of 2028 as a club advisor. When asked what Ms. Crowley likes about Casa Grande, she said that Casa is “really friendly” and she loves that everyone knows each other and there’s a strong sense of friendship. “Even though it’s a big school, it feels like a small school,  very diverse, everyone has different interests.”