When students look at their teachers, they don’t normally think about their teacher’s out-of-school life and what they do when they aren’t at school teaching rowdy kids. Students probably think even less about what their teacher’s childhood was like. Stephanie Frerker, a German teacher at Pattonville High School, provides a quick glimpse into her childhood.
While most elementary school kids got home from school and ran straight outside to play, Frerker did the opposite.
“I always brought home tons of books and always did homework at the kitchen table right after school,” Frerker said and then smiled, somewhat embarrassed. “After dinner, I always watched non-educational TV, like “Brady Bunch” re-runs and “Love Boat,“ or I would read. I loved to read and check out books from the library.”
One of Frerker’s favorite books was a book that is still famous today, and even has a series of movies to follow. Frerker loved “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” as a kid. In general, she said, “I liked non-fiction about historical figures and books about time travel.” She also said “A Wrinkle in Time” was a favorite book of hers.
Some favorite movies of Frerker’s include “Grease,” “ET” and “The Breakfast Club.” She immediately answered her favorite music group as a kid was “Duran Duran.”
Teachers and parents are usually the answer when kids are asked who their heroes are and Frerker’s answer was no different.
“My mom and my teachers. I really looked up to my elementary school teachers,” Frerker said.
Pets are always reliable when it comes to making a little kid happy. Frerker, like most kids, grew up with many pets. She grew up with a dog, a hamster, fish and a couple different cats.
Frerker said, “My cat with us the longest was Lacey. And my dog’s name was Snoopy.”
When Frerker was in high school, she was sure of what she wanted to be when she grew up. She said, “I wanted to be a foreign diplomat or a foreign correspondent.” Obviously, Frerker wound up with a very different job than what she had planned.
As of now, Frerker has been teaching at Pattonville High School for 12 years. She only teaches German II-V but also has a sophomore Pirate Connections class.
To get into her job now, Frerker said, “I was a teacher’s assistant for German during grad school for my master’s. I discovered I loved teaching, and wanted to teach high school because I wanted to get to know the students more and have a bigger impact on them.”
Frerker has come a long way and changed a lot since her childhood. Now that students at Pattonville know a little more about Frerker, they can conclude that their upbeat German teacher was once just an average kid.
