ALUMNI: Erika St Andre
By Kate Macaulay,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–
Erika St. Andre’s entire career has been focused on helping kids.
The 1994 Davis High graduate started by teaching fourth grade for five years after college. Then, she was an English language development teacher for seven years. Next, St. Andre became a vice principal, which eventually lead to her current job as a principal at Esparto Elementary School.
DHS helped St. Andre get to where she is now.
“The teachers I had senior year were rigorous for expectations,” St. Andre said.
Her AP Composition and Literature teacher was especially helpful.
St. Andre said that DHS was “extremely valuable in terms of a college prep high school.”
But the person who really inspired St. Andre to pursue a teaching career was not at her high school. It was her sixth grade teacher Ellie Bonner at West Davis Intermediate School. West Davis Intermediate School is now known as Willett Elementary School.
“She was not only an amazing teacher but a great mentor, she made me feel successful at school and helped me through junior high and high school,” St. Andre said.
Bonner taught sixth grade at West Davis Intermediate School for 17 years. She says that to be a teacher, you have to care and love what you are doing. You also have to get to know your students so that you can help them succeed.
She believes that St. Andre has qualities that make her a good teacher.
“She could tell that I loved doing what I was doing, teaching, and that you can never master teaching, just use enthusiasm and love,” Bonner said.
Spanish has also helped St. Andre. She started learning the language in seventh grade and went all the way through Spanish 5 AP at DHS. It wasn’t until she studied abroad in Costa Rica, though, that she became fluent.
“I use my Spanish every day in Esparto,” St. Andre said.
St. Andre likes her job.
“I enjoy being a principal,” St. Andre said. “Some of the best things about it is that I get to help kids and their families make decisions about education every day.”
