Teacher Talk: Getting to Know Ms. White

Sydney Olsen

Ms. White can be found, with half of her Hello Kitty collection, in her room in the Media Center.

Ms. White is the Journalism I, Journalism II, and Yearbook teacher at Rocky Mountain High School and this is her sixth year teaching at Rocky. White was born in Mission Hills, California, and she grew up in Los Angeles, California.

 

She went to Biola University in La Mirada, California, and had hoped to become a lawyer. “I started out as an Art major then switched and majored in Journalism and then changed again and ended with an English major because I was going to go to law school. I was actually enrolled in law school. I love researching and finding out information even though that sounds boring to most people. I dropped out so I could  get married,” she said. White has been a teacher since 1990, and took a few years off here and there to be with her kids and go back to school.

 

White never wanted to be a teacher. She planned on going to law school to become a lawyer. “I really wanted to go to law school, but I started teaching because Jeff White and I wanted to get married and I had an English degree so I applied to a job teaching English in Los Angeles and I just loved it. That is where I felt at home. I felt good at it. I loved the kids. I loved it,” White said. 

 

 

White taught at Mountain View High School in Loveland, Colorado, for a few years before coming to Rocky Mountain High School. “I loved my time at Mountain View High School until I was just ready to move on. And Rocky is such a great great place; the kids are amazing. The people that I work with are just incredible. It’s just been a really awesome experience to be here at Rocky. The kids are just, overall, different; the kids are just really great. I just really love the kids in my classes,” she explained.

 

When White is not at school teaching and grading papers, she works her second job at Studio Vino located in Loveland, Colorado. “I always liked art. I started working there because when I started my job as a teacher at Poudre School District. I took a pay cut and I was looking to make a little extra money. I love painting and now I use the extra money to travel which I also really love.” White has been to many countries in Europe including Iceland and France and plans to to visit many more.

 

At home, Ms. White has three children. The oldest is Luke, then Daisy, and the youngest is Cooper. She has been married to Jeff White for 28 years and also has a dog named Princess Pow Pow the Chow Chow, but calls her Sugar because the name is too long to say on a daily basis.

 

Students can find Ms. White in her classroom in the Media Center in the old computer lab room. White is almost never in her office in San Juan, but her Hello Kitty collection is housed there. She wants to help and care for all of her kids here at Rocky. When students enter her room, she immediately welcomes them with her nicknames like, “Sugar,” “Sugar Plum,” “Baby” and many more. Mrs. White is a wonderful teacher to have.