Kaleb Durocher

Last year, Dreyfoos said goodbye to former communications teacher Kaleb Durocher. Although many students were sad to see this staff member go, he left on good terms with his many of his students, some of whom he still talks to about film and art via email. Mr. Durocher spent two years at Dreyfoos as an artist in residence, originally recruited by a fellow Dreyfoos staff member.

“A friend introduced me to [digital media dean] Peter Stodolak at an art opening in Delray,” Mr. Durocher said. “He hired me as an artist in residence to design an online showcase of Visual and Digital Media student work. I did that for a while before [communications dean Angela] Anyzeski hired me to teach the last few months of a freshman Communication Arts class. The next semester I taught a graphic design class, and the following year I taught film full-time. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”

Mr. Durocher recalls many aspects of Dreyfoos that made teaching interesting. Many of these even inspired him to conduct himself differently in his own art. His students were his biggest encouragement to continue teaching and producing creative work.

“Dreyfoos is a place where young people celebrate individuality and embrace a diversity of style, religion, sexual orientation, and creativity,” Mr. Durocher said. “Teaching taught me that creating a productive, exciting, challenging environment for art is just as rewarding as making art.”

Since leaving Dreyfoos, Mr. Durocher has had many memorable experiences including traveling and taking new artistic opportunities he did not previously have in Florida.

“After leaving I travelled throughout Europe for several months,” Mr. Durocher said. “[I currently live in] Los Angeles. I make a living as a designer at a small creative agency, and I’m currently working on an art book.”

Although he is keeping himself busy, Mr. Durocher still has fond memories of Dreyfoos that he misses. He has high expectations for both himself, and his former students in the future.

“I miss the energy and optimism of being surrounded by hundreds of kids who have impossible dreams and don’t care that they’re impossible,” Mr. Durocher said. “I want to see my former students make great work. At some point I want to get my [masters in fine arts.] I imagine running my own design studio and teaching art at the college level.”

Allison Glenn

Although Dreyfoos has a very open and accepting community, new teachers often find themselves having a period of adjustment. However, math teacher and swim coach Allison Glenn had little trouble adapting to her students and classroom environment.

“[Previous to Dreyfoos] I taught at Jupiter Middle School for three years,” Ms. Glenn said. “I didn’t really want to leave at first because I was comfortable there, but I was good friends with [math dean] Lisa Beckle and she encouraged me to apply, which eventually I did but I didn’t possibly think that I was going to get [the job].”

Although she doubted herself at first, Ms. Glenn found Dreyfoos to be a new and exciting environment, despite the liberality of the school being surprising when she arrived.

“It was definitely a culture shock, but one of positivity,” Ms. Glenn said. “There was an energy of super positive vibes and collaboration between the teachers and students. It was like a breath of fresh air.”

Ms. Glenn has adapted her teaching style to appeal to students who are invested in their art, and has found that visual representation is the best way to do this.

“I noticed that a lot of my students had a different way of looking at problem solving,” Ms. Glenn said. “I decided to take a more creative approach to the lessons, and I’ve found that students respond extremely well to it. I have a lot of kids who are interested enough to ask a lot of questions to dig deeper and find the ‘why’ behind things.”

Besides teaching, Ms. Glenn has also been very interested in her student’s art. She finds the multiple outlets for creativity extremely intriguing, and sometimes even humorous.

“The ‘only at Dreyfoos’ stuff is all completely real,” Ms. Glenn said. “I notice that students here have a lot more baggage than students at other schools, they aren’t afraid to carry around their instruments or paintings or their dance clothes. I actually have a student that was working on designing a mannequin leg so everyday she had my class she’d just walk in with this huge painted leg over her shoulder and it always cracked me up.”

Ms. Glenn has long term plans for staying at Dreyfoos in the future, as she appreciates the student’s dedication and maturity.

“I think that there is an outsider’s perception of Dreyfoos that not many students here are academically involved,” Ms. Glenn said. “But really, [the students] are so hardworking and kind to one another. I feel like the cliques sort of melt together and the accepting nature is really a perk to teaching here because it creates less drama amongst the students. They seem like a family, and they inspire me everyday.”

Elyce Hill

Students who take AP Environmental Science (APES) will find themselves doing a variety of things. Whether students are kayaking or computing math problems, science teacher Elyce Hill’s class is always busy. Per student request, after years of being excluded from the Dreyfoos curriculum, administration brought APES back this year.

“Our planet is facing so many human-induced issues, and it’s important for young people to be aware of the issues and learn about ways they can help in their everyday lives,” Ms. Hill said. “It is a very interesting field of study and hopefully some students might find a future career path to help mankind solve some of our environmental challenges.”

Ms. Hill has had an interest in the environment for about 20 years. She studied environmental science in college and participated in an internship at the Pine Jog Environmental Education Center in West Palm Beach after she graduated, where she was exposed to experiences in the natural areas of South Florida.

“I have always loved the outdoors and I got my undergraduate degree in environmental studies. The classes I took really appealed to me. [Participating in environmental studies and interning at the Pine Jog Environmental Education Center] drew me to teach this course,” Ms. Hill said. “The work I have done has mostly been in environmental education. Before being a classroom teacher, I used to teach groups of students environmental science programs in the outdoors.”

In APES, students learn about different components of the environment and about living things, such as the atmosphere and invasive species. The course also focuses on the ways human activities have impacted the planet. A particularly unique excursion Ms. Hill planned to show the value of APES outside the classroom was a field trip to MacArthur Beach State Park, where students kayaked and caught creatures in seine nets to measure the area’s biodiversity.
“The best part of teaching APES is instilling awareness and understanding into Dreyfoos students that can have a positive impact on their lives and the planet,” Ms. Hill said.