“Don’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon.” It’s Danielle Garren’s first year here at Santa Maria High Sschool. So far, she doesn’t plan on going anywhere, so we can expect her to continue helping us students here.

Ms. Garren grew up “not the richest,” but her family did their best to find fun and cheap ways to have fun. Their family did a lot of camping which were her favorite. Their family also went on trips.

Ms. Garren attended Righetti high school and graduated in 2009. One hard time was having her dad in the military. Her history teacher was one of her mentors. Her teacher helped her through this time. He pushed her to not give up and overall to become a better student. Her wrestling coach/art teacher pushed her a lot and just encouraged her. Even encouraged her to get into art school.

I think I wanted to be a teacher, I always wanted to be.

Ms. Garren went to Pen State University in Pennsylvania. Her father had also attended Penn State which is why she went. Her major was Asian studies and minor in history. She had a Japanese literature professor. She gave her an idea of teaching in Korea. She even nominated her for a scholarship, awarded for graduation and $500! Her professor even wrote her letter of recommendation. “She’s always just been there.”

Ms. Garren moved to South Korea where she would teach English for two years. She had also worked in a toy company that did overseas sales. As the only foreigner, she had to speak the language there. “As an accomplishment, I didn’t give up and got pretty fluent in Korean.” I believe most of us can relate to this as English isn’t our first language and being in a whole new environment, having to get used to a new lifestyle.

In 2017, Ms. Garren returned to the states, Pennsylvania, and went back to studying. “This was a big accomplishment for me because I was out of school for a long time.” She got her masters in secondary education. She was also a grad assistant. She got her Special Ed Certificate.

“AND after that, I didn’t stop!”

She is still going to school! She’s taking two classes to get permanent status in California. She’s ALSO getting her admin credential and maybe one day we can expect her to become a principal. Plus, she’s also coaching for the boys’ cross country and wrestling.

“In high school you figure out who you are well, you’re still figuring out.” There are no deadlines to when you have to find yourself. To this day Ms. Garren is still figuring out who she is as a person. Now that she is here, she’s kinda like “restarting” her life.

Ms. Garren is glad she is working here. “Everyone is really nice, students are respectful, no issues whatsoever.” She enjoys the environment she is in, the people she works with.

“Everyone is very helpful and supportive, that is really important to me, an environment where I can learn to be better as a teacher”.