Tucked away in a corner of the third-floor hallway lies a room with various papers hung on the walls, books stacked on the desks, and newly organized shelves — a classroom that began use this year. After teaching in the Middle School for twelve years, Liz Villagómez has transitioned to the Upper School and will be teaching Spanish II and III this year.

When a spot as an Upper School Spanish teacher became available, Villagómez expressed her interest in this position after becoming aware of it in mid-July. Villagómez stepped into the spot previously held by Mark Hernandez.

“I think in the back of my mind, there’s always been a little piece of me that has been curious of what it would be like to be in the high school all over again,” Villagómez said, “and I think when this became available I knew this is my time and this is my opportunity to come up to the high school.”

When Villagómez taught in the middle school, she served as a Co-Chair of the Language Department, alongside Lorin Pritikin, an Upper School French teacher. “I think it will be a wonderful addition in that she is still going to be a Co-Chair with me of the Language Department,” Pritikin said. “Her responsibilities had been and will continue to be more JK through 8th grade and my responsibilities will be 9th through 12th. She is going to stay my co- chair, but now she’s also going to be my colleague in the high school.”

Because Villagómez has not taught Upper School Spanish in twelve years, there will be a change. “It has been an adjustment, without a doubt, simply because I am working with older students, and I am starting to think ‘what is the best way to really work with high school students?’ And so it’s having to constantly be thinking about my curriculum and my lessons, and how I’m going to deliver them,” Villagómez said, “because I want them to be meaningful and relatable to my students, so there’s a lot more work that I have to do on my end to make it more challenging.”

Villagómez started her teaching career at Lincoln Park High School, where she taught for seven years — primarily the International Baccalaureate Program (IB Program) and additionally Spanish levels I, II, III, and AP. Villagómez noticed changes that could be made in the language department at Lincoln Park and took it upon herself to improve the program.

“I realized that our school had a lot of native speakers who had enrolled in Spanish, and they would sit in our classes, and they would be bored out of their minds. They just weren’t finding any challenge in the class, ” Villagómez said, “so I established a program there for native speakers, and that I felt like that was a big success, given that I was only entering my second year as a teacher.” Through the success of this program, Lincoln Park High School then began teaching AP Spanish Literature, a class which had previously not been offered.

Though Villagómez wasn’t necessarily looking to leave Lincoln Park and was content in her job, an opportunity arose at Parker. According to Villagómez, a friend working at Parker encouraged her to interview to see what a private sector looked like compared to a public sector.

“I had not been in an interview in a long time, and I thought, ‘what’s the worst that can happen?’,” Villagomez said, “They won’t offer me the job, and I will still have a job, and I will have a job that I love very much.’”

After a difficult decision, Villagómez accepted the job offer to teach seventh grade Spanish at Parker. She initially had trouble adjusting to the seventh-grade level after years of teaching high school Spanish. “At first, it was hard, because I didn’t understand middle school students, and I just couldn’t find myself relating to them because I was so used to teaching high school,” Villagómez said. “By the third year or so I felt more and more comfortable, and as time progressed, it was just such a comfort to be teaching in the middle school because I had done it for so long, and I could teach them, I could work with them without a problem because I’d gotten to know who they were as middle schoolers.”

Now that Villagómez is back to teaching in the Upper School, her teaching style is adjusting, and many students remember her class from seventh grade still enjoy have her as a teacher. Sophomore Grace Conrad had previously been in Villagómez’s class in seventh grade and is now in her Spanish II class this year. “Spanish II is a more difficult class than seventh grade. It’s definitely different and more serious,” Conrad said. “But Ms. Villagómez’s energy and enthusiasm is still the same as I remember it in seventh grade, so class is always so much fun.”

With experience teaching as both a Lower School and Upper School Spanish teacher at Parker, Villagómez has an advantage to improve the language program. “I think this will help her bridge how the middle school program can help students prepare for the program in the Upper School, which continues to build all the skill sets of reading, writing, class comprehension, and speaking,” Pritikin said. “Are there changes that can be made in the Middle School program that could help align the programs to facilitate a smooth transition to the intellectual rigors of an Upper School language program? And this will give her a very good advantage.”

Despite any challenges Villagómez will face shifting to the Upper School, much is in store for her. “I haven’t taught high school in a long time, but I’m excited, and I’ve enjoyed every moment,” Villagómez said, “because I’ve spoken in the target language the entire time. You don’t understand how wonderful that eaeels!”