Teacher Favorite: Dr. Steele
Dr. Steele is the Director of Student Support at OHS. She leads efforts in student support initiatives in various areas ranging from mental health to diversity and inclusion. Contributor Shivek Narang learns more about Dr. Steele in the interview below.
Pixel Journal: Let’s start off with a couple of background questions. What inspired you to teach? Do you have any messages to students?
Dr. Steele: When I was 12, I always felt like I wanted to help. I thought of being in the peace corp, and service was something I always felt good about. I think I ended up going into teaching because my mom was a teacher, and she was my role model. I started into teaching and moved into counseling!
PJ: Besides counseling, what else do you teach? How else do you interact with little students?
Dr. Steele: This is my 10th year at OHS, and when I was first here, I was a counselor (academic advisor and college counseling). I helped students schedule classes and figure out the whole system. As OHS grew (from over 250 students), it seemed really great to get professional expertise from admissions for college counseling. And I moved into there, I focused on the socio - emotional aspect. Counseling students is like giving time to listen, hearing what they’re going through as a space to reflect. I am an existential counselor meaning that I do believe that students have the answers for themselves. So I listen to them, show them what I’m hearing, so that they can see and then make decisions instead of asking for them.
PJ: On a more personal note, what do you do in your free time, to relax and enjoy?
Dr. Steele: I love spending time with my family; I have a wife and son, and I love surfing. We love reading, tennis and travel.
PJ: What’s your favorite part of working at OHS?
Dr. Steele: Meeting students like you; I just get to meet some of the most incredible students.They're so different and amazing in every way and that really excites me about being here. Also my colleagues. The company of my colleagues has been really great as well.
PJ: What’s the best thing about OHS? What’s one thing you would like to see added on?
Dr. Steele: The best thing is to get people together who are outside of your area, and you build a community. You have the whole world. Learning how to build the community and have a sense of belonging for every student would be a really important goal for me. Every student here feels that they belong and contributes to a positive place.
PJ: Earlier, I heard that you were making a makerspace for OHS students. Could you describe that more?
Dr. Steele: I collaborate with the graduate school of education and one of my colleagues there has a design course for master students in education. For the past several years, we continue to invite them to our school to help iterate and suggest ideas that could help. So, one of the things that came up was a MakerSpace. We were able to get some students that were interested to help us build that in OHS. So Pixelfest was our first iteration of bringing that to the OHS community.
PJ: Do you have any advice for the OHS students seeking to communicate more with the OHS, especially personal connections?
Dr. Steele: Take the risk and reach out to communicate. That’s one of the things that’s very helpful for OHS students. Whether it's asking a teacher questions or even saying, “Hey, I know you’re in my TAA Class; I really like what you said.” Taking that first step. I remember in one of our graduations, a student said, “We have to reinvent our community; we have to recreate it each year.” Students put a lot of effort into academics, and they could put themselves out there socially as well. That can really help build a relationship.