Mandi Munn answers a question for Asianna Leslie during a ninth grade geography class at Red Bank High School. Munn graduated from the school in 1995 and returned to teach in 2001.For some people, going back to grade school is a gloomy proposition, the stuff of cold sweat and bad dreams. When Sarah Jackson was told in 2012 that she was going back to Girls Preparatory School, she wept.
Like many instructors who take up positions at their alma mater, however, the opportunity to teach in such a familiar setting was less of a nightmare and more of a dream come true.
“I got the [acceptance] email from Linda Mines, the chair of the history department,” says Jackson, who graduated from GPS in 2006 and who now teaches history and social sciences at the school. “I was expecting a very genial, ‘It was great to see you, but we went in another direction and wish you the best.’
“When the first line was, ‘I’m thrilled … to offer you this position,’ I immediately started crying because I was so happy.”
Jackson is one of many teachers in and around Chattanooga who say they longed for the opportunity to give back to the institutions that played such an important role in their formative years. At GPS, Jackson is one of 16 alumni instructors, who represent about 20 percent of the school’s female faculty.