Bree Rolfe, a creative writing and academic English 2 teacher, has been apart of the Bowie staff for four years now and works hard to instruct necessary skills to students.

“I think my most important duty is to teach my students how to communicate effectively so that they can go out into the world and be good citizens,” Rolfe said.

Long before she became an educator, Rolfe participated in a study abroad program in London during her last semester at Boston University. While visiting, she scored an internship at a magazine that covered the London club scene and became and editor. Once she returned to Boston, she spent her time writing about music for a local newspaper.

“However, being a journalist, especially one in such a coveted, niche market like music, is not a lucrative career,” Rolfe said. “I had to have a regular day job if I actually wanted to eat and pay rent in a city like Boston.”

After realizing that her work wasn’t fulfilling in the slightest, she started to tutor voluntarily in Boston. Her tutoring took place in both a homeless shelter and a housing project in Cambridge that served many Haitian immigrants.

“I liked tutoring so much that, ultimately, I made two important decisions that totally changed the trajectory of my life—I decided to go back to school to get a Master’s of Fine Arts in writing and to become a teacher,” Rolfe said.

She started a new chapter in her life by becoming a yearbook and journalism teacher in Del Valle. After a few years, she joined the Bowie community and has received pure happiness from her students.

“When your students make you laugh or when they express sincere, unsolicited gratitude for your help or they say something outrageous that makes the whole class erupt in laughter, there is no better feeling,” Rolfe said.

Rolfe considers one of her proudest moments to be when a student finds their voice in their writing, which is something she believes a writer has to find on their own.

“Those moments when they finally drop the artifice or stop trying to sound smart or like their favorite writer or what they think I want them to sound like and find who they actually sound like inside, are my most proud,” Rolfe said.

Aside from her students, one of her favorite parts about being a teacher is the colleagues she has met. She’s received lots of support and comfort from her fellow English teachers.

“I have known some of the most fascinating and gifted educators and being able to work and learn alongside them has been truly wonderful,” Rolfe said.

Although her job contains many positives, she still faces obstacles and rejects certain aspects of the teaching industry.

“I really hate grading essays. I like teaching, writing, and interacting with students about their work, but when it’s the weekend and you have a stack of a hundred essays you have to grade, yeah, that’s not fun. Also, I am not a big fan of standardized tests and the way that the whole system has affected myself and my students,” Rolfe said. “We make the best of it, but these tests are by no means a measure of who we are as people.”

To plan her lessons, Rolfe works quite often with Whitney Shumate, who also teaches sophomore English. They both write curriculum for the district, so most of their work is done is over the summer and abides by district guidelines.

“I work very closely with Mrs. Shumate on almost all of my lessons for my English classes and it’s a magical experience,” Rolfe said. “It involves a lot of laughing and sometimes crying over children singing on America’s Got Talent and a deep and abiding love of tea and Anne of Green Gables.”

Throughout the span of her career, Rolfe has learned the importance of flexibility and loving her work. In addition, she’s become less judgmental due to many years spent in a classroom.

“I’m continually surprised by my students and colleagues and so I learned that maybe I should be open to surprises in all aspects of my life,” Rolfe said.

Rolfe was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis about two years into her teaching career. Her lung function was so low that she was very close to needing a lung transplant.

“I got the care I needed and I am doing much better now. I do know that it can all change pretty quickly and I could be in that situation again. So, I am just proud that I am still here doing the best I can,” Rolfe said.