One of the new faces on campus is Peter Levin ‘11 a current member of the Teaching Fellows program teaching 7th grade science. Before coming to AA, he taught pre-school and outdoor education, so this is his first experience teaching older kids in a classroom. When asked why he wanted to teach at Academy, he states “It is a very warm and welcoming community that has space for anyone to be who they want to be.” When thinking back to his years at AA, his fondest memory of lunch was the old waffle machine in the dining hall. One place at the Academy that he’s excited to go back to is Bear Canyon, explaining, “I think the Academy’s ability to have a robust extended education is pretty awesome…I remember from being a sixth grader and seventh grader, and I vividly remember going out there.” Mr. Levin describes himself as creative, outgoing, and approachable. He has a passion for mental health due to his past struggles. He says, “I think that it’s important to notice those kinds of invisible things that affect and create who we are, and talking about that can be emotional.” He decided to become a teacher since he believes school is the place where kids go to grow and become creative, “Being alongside students as they’re embarking on being like, ‘Who am I going to be, and who are my friends?’ Teachers are a small bit of that, and it’s pretty awesome to be there and see students growing up.” When asked what he was planning to do in the future, he said, “I don’t have a direct answer. I’m still in grad school, also, while I’m doing this, doing science education. So I need to kind of focus and finish that, and do some research. I’d love to do some of that here in Albuquerque and be at Academy.” Overall, Mr. Levin said he would “definitely like to keep teaching, maybe in this age group somewhere.” However, the fellowship program only lasts for a year, so next year Mr. Levin might be teaching somewhere else.We are so excited to see what he does this year and are so glad to have him here at Albuquerque Academy.