Ms. Linke is a new addition to MECA’s staff, bringing years of experience from teaching middle schools to her new transition to high school. Now, she teaches US History, Govt., and Study Skills, where she can use her lifelong passions for reading and writing to fuel the creative minds of her new students. 

As she was growing up, like many people, Ms. Linke considered various career paths. She did say she “wanted to be a teacher when [she] was a little kid”. At first, she was eager to teach English Language Arts, due to her deep love of reading. But soon after, she realized that teaching the specifics of grammar and English wasn’t for her. So, she thought of the next best thing; Social Studies! 

Early Academic Life: 

Ms. Linke has grown up right here in West Covina. She attended Monte Vista for elementary school where she met one of her best friends who even remained one for the rest of their time in school. She also went to Edgewood for middle school, and West Covina High School for high school.

She spoke highly of her school life as a child, especially the numerous field trips she went on. These included a commercial bakery, a museum, and the city hall. Her school even hosted a field trip to an airport though she wasn’t able to go since she had chickenpox. During this, she reminisced on how “[she’s] still kind of mad” that she couldn’t go.

Ms. Linke also talked about how she enjoyed her high school life, recounting the time she spent with her cousins and friends. Though she wasn’t in any school clubs or sports, that never stopped her from making memories with the people she loved. She chose to spend her time pursuing her interests, as anyone should, in reading, where she made most of her connections.

College Life:

College was a great experience for Ms. Linke. She started at Citrus College and during her time there she got the opportunity to go to London. It wasn’t until then though, that she got to thinking about what she truly wanted to do as a career. She recalled a late night in Dublin with her flatmates, talking about how she was helping them with their homework and one of her friends commented on how she should be a teacher. That’s the moment that got Ms. Linke to seriously consider teaching as her life career.

After her time at Citrus College, she transferred to Cal State Fullerton to earn her teaching credential. She has a serious love for studying abroad though she did say how she got a little homesick.

Life After College:

Once Ms. Linke got her teaching credential, she went back to Edgewood for a year to teach middle school, which has always been what she loved most. Then, she moved to Walnut Grove Intermediate School, where she taught for another 22 years. This year, she decided to switch things up by coming here, to MECA. 2024 is her first year teaching at a high school, so she carried the same amount of anxiety coming here as the new freshmen did.

What did help in calming her nerves, was the small size of Mt. SAC ECA. Much like the middle schools she taught at, there aren’t too many students here and it’s more of a community where everyone knows one another. Now that everyone has had some time to settle, we hope Ms. Linke can begin to feel at home!