Walking through the entrance of North Forrest High School, Karen Rebold wears a fashionable blouse, decorative pants and slip on shoes. No stranger to Room 23, Mrs. Rebold has been faithfully working as both an English teacher and a yearbook adviser for over 20 years. She greets everyone with a big smile and is always ready to cheer someone up with her elation and great sense of humor. She wears bright coral lipstick every day and styles her blond tresses of hair to a manner of perfection. Despite her external elegance, she is quite humble and is dedicated to her profession in the most adverse circumstances.
Initially, Mrs. Rebold had no intentions of becoming a teacher. She described how she originally worked in the retail management department of a clothing store, noting she did not enjoy “working nights and weekends” at the facility. She decided to switch her career from merchandise to education because she not only needed to spend more quality time with her children but also wanted to utilize her English degree. As she reflected on her years of teaching, she …show more content…
Rebold humbly agrees that she has had an impact on her students, Kaci Lazenby, both a fellow teacher and North Forrest graduate, boasts of Mrs. Rebold’s ability to influence her pupils. Ms. Lazenby, a former student of Mrs. Rebold, describes her as a “brilliant, intuitive thinker with a deep love of literature and the English language” who “exhibits a great sense of dedication to her students.” Ms. Lazenby also claims Mrs. Rebold impacted her with culturally rich literature. Ms. Lazenby noted that the literary works during the Harlem Renaissance not only made her probe the texts for deeper meaning but also caused her to appreciate the historical aspects of the people behind the literature, thus stimulating her to major in history. Also, Ms. Lazenby explained that Mrs. Rebold served as her “dynamic mentor” who swayed her in deciding to minor in English at the University of Southern