They roam the halls and print out forests of homework; you see them almost every day. Yet, what is it that Franklin’s staff do once they leave the school campus?
This self-proclaimed dim sum and dumpling “die-hard” fan — science teacher Dr. Sahnzi Moyers — spends her days here at Franklin. Moyers’ mind blooms in the morning, and not just because she spends time drinking coffee in her garden before coming to school; it’s the time she feels most creative. When she arrives at 7:30 a.m. to prepare for her classes, Moyers enjoys the school’s quiet atmosphere.
In the evenings, she unwinds in her home gym on the treadmill, doing pilates, or lifting weights while watching — in her words — “terrible shows” like “Love is Blind” and “The Ultimatum.” Afterward, Moyers feeds her love of cooking by trying new recipes to make dinner, followed by reading science and escapism books before going to bed around 10 p.m.
On days off, as soon as she hears the birds singing outside her window, Moyers wakes up and spends slow mornings in pajamas with coffee in her garden. She has also been known to enjoy nature documentaries and gardening shows. Moyers loves spending time with friends, and, on the weekends, she either hosts dinner at her home or goes out with them.
Moyers is passionate about the outdoors and embraces any opportunity to be outside, oftentimes taking long walks on the weekends. If the rain won’t stop, she often gets restless and starts different home projects.
While many students know Moyers as a teacher, they may not know she was featured in Teen People Magazine as a teenager when reporters stopped her on the street, took her photo, and interviewed her about her sense of style. Hearing this, it may seem that opportunities fell into Moyers’ lap or that things came easy for Moyers, but that’s not true — especially regarding her education. “Being a good student is not something automatic or inherent; I had to work really hard for it,” she says.
This pursuit of knowledge is one of the reasons that she loves her job. “I love my students’ questions. I am incredibly curious. I have no shame in not knowing something — that’s the fun part!” Moyers shares. “Being asked questions is when I can see some of my students’ deepest thoughts and can see them connecting what we are doing in class to their lives outside of school. Sometimes they ask the most brilliant questions and it’s my favorite when I don’t know the answer because I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh that’s brilliant, let’s look that up together.’”
When not preparing to take on a bungee jumping adventure — an item on her bucket list — Student Attendance Coach Daisy Jimenez-Antonio wakes up around 6 a.m. and gets her two-year-old ready for daycare. While she packs lunches and picks out outfits, she follows the news and tracks on social media the trends Franklin students might be following.
After school, she will be at the park or on a walk with her toddler before a family dinner. “Dinnertime is always around the table,” says Jimenez-Antonio, speaking to the importance of family time. “Family means a lot to me, so we are constantly either hosting something or going over to a family or friend’s [house].” Loving to cook and share food is a central part of who Jimenez-Antonio is and is something she shares with her family. “My daughter is also half Japanese, so when you bring two cultures together, you get an abundance of people who love to cook,” she explains.
On a day off, Jimenez-Antonio can be found outside with her family soaking up the sun, watching the rain patter on the windows of their neighborhood public library, or finding sales at the thrift store. If it’s a Sunday, Jimenez-Antonio will be on the phone with her grandmother, who lives in Guatemala — where most of her family resides. During the call, she will speak Akatek — a Mayan language and one of the three languages the attendance coach is fluent in, along with Spanish and English. Jimenez-Antonio, who spent the summers of her youth with her family in Guatemala, is excited to spend the upcoming summer in Guatemala after a few years’ hiatus.
Her sense of adventure doesn’t disappear when she enters the building. Jimenez-Antonio has worked with students for almost ten years, yet still finds “there’s always learning to be done.” She is passionate about helping students and their families succeed, saying, “I love seeing students believe in themselves past the limiting beliefs that they have either created or constantly heard.”
Through her dedication to her role as a keystone for students’ success, Jimenez-Antonio has watched her students grow up. “I’ve seen them become moms and parents, I’ve seen them graduate from college, I’ve moved kids in at the University of Oregon,” she shares. With boba or a chai latte in hand, Jimenez-Antonio makes a lasting impact on the students she serves.
Franklin English teacher Elisa Wong wakes up daily at 5:30 a.m. and sleeps for four more minutes until she promptly gets up at 5:34 a.m. After feeding her cats, making coffee, and preparing her lunch, she returns to bed with her coffee for “cat snuggle time.” As her brain wakes up and she thinks of ways to help her AP Seminar students complete Performance Tasks, she does the New York Times games Strands, Connections, Wordle, and Mini Crossword. Wong also indulges in Quordle, a Wordle-style game in which players simultaneously solve four puzzles in nine guesses. Before leaving the house, she fills her water bottle with extra ice.
In her car, she “pregames” for the school day by calling her good friend and classroom neighbor, Ms. Draper. The two AP teachers call each morning on their way to work; whoever gets to the parking lot first waits for the other so they can walk into school together.
After a busy day of assigning rhetorical analysis essays, Wong calls Draper on the drive home to “postgame” the day. Each night, Wong eats dinner with her son and husband, discussing their days as they share a meal. Afterwards, it’s Wong’s time for more cat cuddles with her three cats Artemis, Wolfie, and Chewbacca while she watches the show “Severance.” As in the mornings, Wong enjoys a routine in the evenings; she does a 20-minute red light therapy face mask while listening to a podcast and ends her night by reading.
When Wong doesn’t have work or plans, you can find her at a plant, yarn, or fabric store where she will likely be “dreaming about buying things” — or at Sparrow Bakery enjoying a pistachio croissant. When she retires, she will take a year of “travel with a theme.” One theme idea is to follow tennis tournaments around the world, starting with the Australian Open. No matter the theme, she hopes to visit Japan and Europe as she’s never been to either before.
Even when she isn’t traveling, Wong combines her interests of the world in her classroom. “I love creating [a] curriculum that reacts to the world around us,” says Wong. Since the classes she teaches follow College Board standards, she teaches skills rather than individual texts, so “no year is ever the same,” as she evolves curricula each year to be relevant for students. While you may not know of her love for gingerbread chai or know that she’s a phenomenal juggler, her passion for the classes she teaches is apparent.
You might spot her in the hallway sporting a pair of shoes from her extensive collection or see sophomores trailing behind her with heavy AP Modern World History notebooks — you guessed it, it’s social studies teacher Rachel Draper. Each day, Draper wakes up at 5 a.m. out of habit from her time growing up on her family farm. She spends the early morning making coffee, watching the news, and taking her three dogs — Mia, Rosie, and Nash — outside.
When she gets back home, to free her mind from teaching her students about the Silk Road or the Mongols, she walks her dogs, watches the news again, and watches sports games — especially basketball. Around 9 p.m., it’s time for the rooster to nest; Draper is ready for bed with her dogs.
Many know of Draper Girls Country Farm, nestled in Hood River, but you might not know that Draper used to work seven days a week. After a full school week, she worked on the weekend, helping her family and two younger sisters at the downtown farmers market. While helping out with the family business, she “educates people about produce” rather than history. Even though she still fills in to help once in a while, Draper now enjoys some free time on the weekends for herself.
This summer, Draper will be at her family farm, thinking up new ways to “get students into history,” have them make connections from the past to their lives, and prompt them to develop the skills to think about the world in a new light.
Social studies teacher Greg Gacia is a creature of habit. After waking up at 5 a.m., he has the same breakfast each morning: celery, string cheese, a bowl of Cheerios with strawberries, two slices of pineapple, six dates, and a pink lady apple. That is unless it’s a Sunday, which is when he makes a special breakfast. Garcia takes his coffee strictly black except on days of indulgence — Mondays, Fridays, or celebrations — in which case he allows himself cream.
Garcia arrives at Franklin at 7 a.m. sharp and does 10 minutes of Duolingo — he is currently learning Italian — in the parking lot. After a full day of historical theaters and scavenger hunts, Garcia returns home to get a workout in. On Mondays and Wednesdays, that means lifting weights while watching a movie; he recently completed his James Bond movie marathon. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he runs on the treadmill while watching a 30-minute episode of Star Trek.
While Garcia hosts “extra special tutorials” and other academic support for his students after school most of the week, Fridays are his time to spend with his wife. They always go out to dinner and do something fun; recently, that meant attending the opera version of “The Shining.”
Students may know that Garcia’s grandfather is one of Hawai’i’s “founding fathers” who made it an American state in 1959. However, they might be surprised that he is writing a novel — something he’s always had on his bucket list. When not writing and revising his book, he cooks one of the 4,182 recipes in his cooking app. Garcia shares his passion for cooking by doing a cooking challenge each year — for example, during Latino History Month, he cooked a traditional recipe each day of the month.
From his passion for his Hawaiian ancestry to creating games to teach his students, Garcia loves working with and for the Franklin community.
Franklin’s incredible staff often lead extraordinary lives outside of school. So the next time you see a staff member at the grocery store, don’t duck behind the canned peaches — say hi!
