Alicia Thibodeaux teaches English II at Gulf Breeze High School. She is also the adviser for Yearbook and the sponsor of our school’s National English Honor Society chapter.

   Thibodeaux has been teaching at GBHS since 2014, but has lived in Santa Rosa County since she was eight. Her favorite part is “getting to know the students and getting to interact with them every day.”

   As for her English II curriculum, Thibodeaux’s two favorite units to cover are Dystopian literature and the Holocaust. Both of these units include projects for students to present their understanding of the topics.

   “Sometimes, I assign students to create their own Dystopian world or write their own Dystopian short story,” Thibodeaux said. For the Holocaust unit, “I often have them design and create their own Holocaust memorial.”

   Thibodeaux’s love for English goes beyond the classroom. As the sponsor of GBHS’s National English Honor Society, Thibodeaux enjoys “working with the officers and being inspired by them.”

   “We try to do several service projects each month and my favorite this year was distributing warm clothing in downtown Pensacola for anyone in need of a little extra help this past year,” Thibodeaux shared.

   Aside from the English department, this year marked Thibodeaux’s first year as the adviser for GBHS’s yearbook, “The Cetacea.” She said that her favorite part is “the challenge of doing something new and getting to spend time with students creating something meaningful.”

   The position of yearbook adviser was not short of its obstacles, though.

   “I was not expecting the high amount of stress and time it would take to complete it and meet deadlines,” Thibodeaux said. “It was particularly challenging to cover the spring sports with the book being due right after the spring season started.”

   When she leaves school, Thibodeaux goes home to her husband, Luke, and their three-year-old son, Clark. While Clark is usually the center of her attention, Thibodeaux also enjoys reading, including her favorite books such as “Sisterhood of Traveling Pants,” “Catch-22,” “The Night Circus” and the “Harry Potter” series. Along with this, Thibodeaux enjoys going to the beach and traveling.

   “I lived in Hungary and Austria after college and now I try to travel to Europe every few years,” Thibodeaux shared. “My next trip is to Germany and Belgium this upcoming September.”

   Personally, I got the chance to experience Thibodeaux’s greatness firsthand as a student in her class sophomore year. She always made sure that everyone was understanding what was going on and her presentation assignments helped improve our public speaking and communication skills. I was delighted to highlight Thibodeaux’s impact at GBHS.