A former student-teacher, Oak Park High School alumna and aspiring novelist, Jessica Wall started at OPHS this year, teaching English II CP, English IV Honors and Madness and Identity.

Wall was a student-teacher at OPHS with English teacher Caitlin Fowler for the 2017-18 school year, teaching English II Honors [and Children ́s Literature].

“My experience at Oak Park was foundational for every aspect of my life. It was my experience [here] that inspired me to go into English education so that I could improve the lives of my students and impact their critical thinking skills,” Wall said.

Wall intended to return to OPHS for many years.

“I always had a dream [to come back here] since high school. The idea was planted in my mind in my 9th grade English class. I saw the way [English teacher Jan Willis] was paid to talk about literature and inspire students, and I thought, ’I would do that even if I wasn’t paid,’” Wall said.

Outside of the classroom, Wall is an amateur novelist. Throughout high school and college at Pepperdine University, Wall has written several novels, including two fantasy stories, a science fiction novel and a realistic fiction novel.

While her works have not yet been published, she plans to continue writing in the future and to soon become a published author.

“I always knew I wanted to have a career that had something to do with narrative, so the question was will I go into creative writing or will I go into teaching. I decided to do both. I write novels [in my free time]. The dream is to get one published [and] I can do that [while] I teach because of the unique hours of teaching,” Wall said.

Sharon Pagidipati, who was in part instructed by Wall in her sophomore year and now has her again is, ¨very excited” for this year.

¨I had Ms. Wall in 10th grade, and I thought she was amazing at literary analysis. She made it a lot of fun, and I ́m so glad I have her again this year!” Pagidipati said.