With a passion for poetry and salsa moves, Lisa Cheby also uses her feet to take on the new job as librarian, Journalism and English teacher at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School (DPMHS).
After teaching at Garfield High School (GHS) for seven years, Cheby heard about an opening at DPMHS from Eng- lish and Journalism 2 teacher Adriana Chavira, her former co-worker at GHS.
“I was on a leave of absence with no specific assignment and needed a teaching job,” Cheby said.
Cheby saw the job as something new and challenging compared to GHS and was impressed by the schools fo- cus on writing. The interviewer’s were also impressed by her interest in writing.
Though it is her first time working as a librarian, she is excited to work on getting more books that students will be interested in and is excited to teach students how to research using the Internet.
“It’s a new experience for me and it’s an interesting challenge that will provide the students with more opportunity,” Cheby said.
Before becoming a part of the DPMHS family, Cheby worked as a social worker for just over five years, went to film school and became an English teacher at GHS.
Cheby received her master’s degree at Antioch University in creative writing and poetry. As an undergraduate, she attended New College of Florida and taught English in Hungary for one year for a Foreign Exchange Teacher Program.
“Living in a foreign country opened up my perspective on our world and it was def- initely a growth experience that allowed me to get to know my family better,” she said.
Cheby added that the trip to Hungary was really fun and exciting and talked about how she got to meet all her aunts, uncles and cousins. She is 100 percent Hungarian and during her free time she likes to travel, hike, salsa dance, practice yoga, read and write.
“I like to go salsa dancing because it’s fun and it’s also a good workout,” she said. After her experience in Hun- gary, Cheby went to film school at Full Sail University in Florida to be- come a video editor and then headed to New York where she lived five years. “I loved New York and it was an amazing city, but it can be overwhelming and exhausting at times,” Cheby said. Aside from all the challenging jobs Cheby does at DPMHS, she was able to find time to start a new poetry club that will be held in her room once a week. “It    will    be    interesting    to    see how many students are actually interested in poetry,” she said. When she is not working, Cheby likes attending poetry readings, con- certs, cultural activities and art museums. “We forget the pleasure in listening to someone read to us and miss the magic about listening to stories,” Cheby said.