Mrs. Palumbo

By Grace Newman

What was once a dead language is now back again and better than ever on our very own campus. Meet Mrs. Palumbo, the new middle school Latin teacher. As this will be her 23rd year teaching, she has a lot of experience under her belt. She has worked with students of all ages and at all levels.

After teaching mostly in public schools, she explains how Tempe Prep is a nice change of pace. “I appreciate the small classes. Not the small classrooms but the small classes.” I think just about everyone here can agree with that statement. She loves the small class sizes so much that her daughter, in sixth grade, goes here now too.

Mrs. Palumbo was partly inspired to work here because of Mr. Hansen and Dr. Riesbeck. They told her they “want your energy to be at Tempe Prep!” The three of them help run the Junior Classical League (JCL), otherwise known as the National Latin Organization. Mrs. Palumbo herself is the Latin chairwoman for the state of Arizona! She explains how “Tempe Prep, back in the day, was really active with this organization.” Her goal is to help spark up the love for classics again. She loves her role here and is truly passionate about it.

Another thing Mrs. Palumbo dedicates her time to is traveling. I think this hobby is quite reflective of what she teaches; both share a love in classics. She visits Italy every other summer and ventures to a new place when she’s not off galavanting through the Colosseum.

Mrs. Palumbo’s energetic presence here is already influencing Tempe Prep for the better, and helping rejuvenate what we seem to have lost among the years.

Madame Doran

By Violeta Panayotova

Starting the new school year is a tough job. Buying all of our new school supplies, understanding the latest syllabus, and learning that you can no longer wake up at noon and watch Netflix all day is a challenge like no other. However, students are not the only ones that have to wake up early and face the obstacle of being new.

This year, Tempe Preparatory Academy is happy to announce that it hired a new French teacher. As a young child, Madame Doran fell in love with the French language. As a born and raised Arizonian, she wanted to escape the heat. So, she did just that by going to the University of Washington in Seattle, which was a bit of a change in the weather.

There, she was accepted into a doctoral program in the field of sociology where she learned how society works and how a certain group of people are hurt. Basically “it is a very depressing field of study,” she said.

Luckily for all French students, Madame Doran’s advisor told her that this wouldn’t be the best decision for her because she wanted to “go out there and make a positive change in the world which translated into working with young people.” This is why she moved back to Arizona and got her undergraduate and graduate degree in French from the Arizona State University.

During her college years, Madame Doran traveled all over the world, including Europe, and because of her adventurous nature, she learned German and Chinese and doubled in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. Before she moved to Tempe Prep, she was teaching kindergarteners and first graders basic English, math, and of course French. But because she wanted to focus on French, she became one of the latest members of the Tempe Prep staff.

Today, she enjoys the change from teaching tiny first graders and kindergarteners to high school students. Surprising to all, Madame Doran states, “It was a big change in many ways but in other ways, you guys are very similar.” In her free time she enjoys being outdoors, camping, hiking and enjoying nature.

Her goals for this year are “to teach” and to “plan a trip to Barcelona and Paris” and “learn how to run a French Club.” Finally, she leaves us with a few words of wisdom: “Every student I have, you can all become as proficient in French as I have if you just keep up with it.”