Diana Rudolph, 7th grade Science

Q: What is your Greatest Accomplishment?

A: “Having my kids and the fact that they are all grown up and they are responsible citizens.”

Q: If you wanted to take a new and uncertain path in your life, and your friends didn’t want you to, would you go ahead against their wishes if you thought it was right for you?

A: “Yes.”

Q: If you could travel to the past but not return, would you? Where would you go and what would you try to do if your goal was to reshape history?

A: “No I wouldn’t mind going back, and starting over a few things, but I want to progress. I wouldn’t look at my life, I will just go in the future and look. I mean, I would not go to the future and look at…your life and how you did… but, what I would do, I would love to go to the future and see how technology and things go and different things that may have happened.”

Q: Do you strive more for security, accomplishment, success, love, power, or excitement?

A: “Accomplishment…because…I like doing things, and to me it isn’t about having the power…or gain power, although…I have been those places where I have gain power […]. I am curious, I am one of those curious people. I want to know how things work, or how things are doing, and it doesn’t have to be something mechanical, it could be a system, it could be a company. I like to know, so to me, that would go under accomplishment.”

Q: How are you liking GCAA?

A: “I like it, I am still feeling [like] my feet are wet. Which means they’re not quite on solid ground, but I am still swimming.”

Q:When has your life changed dramatically?

A: “ Dramatically? Well, dramatically for me was things like going to college, getting married, going overseas…I mean those are all – you know, there’s a lot of drama in our lives, when it comes to moving, new situations, new apartments. So, was it just one thing? No, it was just always as serious, so there’s probably another one around the bin.”

Q: What is your long-term goal for your students at GCAA?

A: “Ok, what my long-term goal… for us was to pass the Science Test (MAP). How that’s going to be accomplished? I think it’s breaking down our own teaching, and breaking down what we teach.”

Q: Do you feel what you teach might be a little challenging, but at the same time more constructive? Meaning that do you think students will apply it to their later lives?

A: “Ok, right now, if they want a good job… they want a science job. Those are the better-paying jobs, and they also are the most in demand right now. They are going to be in more demand in the future, with the more technology-based we are. So they should consider that, yes, that what I teach, they will be needing in their later lives.”      

Q: Where were you before GCAA?

A: “Before GCAA, I went to Andrew`s Academy, and I was in Makerspace.”

Q: What was your major?

A: “SIU Edwardsville Bachelor in Liberal Arts”

Q: Why did you choose GCAA?

A: “I chose GCAA because I like and knew the atmosphere because I was a sub. I also love block scheduling.”