This 2020-2021 school year, Rancho Cucamonga High School welcomes Mrs. Sylvie Brusselle as our new French 1 teacher. 

Mrs. Brusselle teaches here at Rancho Cucamonga High School for fifth and sixth period, while also teaching at Etiwanda High School for the remaining periods. Mrs. Brusselle has taught at Etiwanda for sixteen years, but she has been teaching for a total of twenty-three years. When asked to teach at RCHS as the new French 1 teacher for two classes, she jumped at the chance. 

“I was curious about how similar our schools would be, but at the same time how different they would be,” said Mrs. Brusselle. 

In her early twenties, Mrs. Brusselle realized how much she missed her home in France, so she asked herself, “What is the perfect job for me so that I do not forget about my culture and my language?” She thought long and hard and came up with the solution of teaching French because she will never forget her language and where she came from. 

Mrs. Brusselle came to the United States from France at the age of 16 and went to Diamond Bar High School in Diamond Bar, California. After High school, she went to Mt. San Antonio College for two and a half years. After Mt. SAC, she went to Cal State Fullerton to get her French degree and her teaching credential so that she could become a teacher. 

“A good day at school for me is when I would walk down the halls and hear my students talking in french with their friends so that the other people around them do not understand what they are saying. That is what would make my day,” said Mrs. Brusselle. 

For Mrs. Brusselle, the best thing about being a teacher is when she makes a serious connection with the students, such as, where they feel comfortable to teach her about new technology and new trends. She also enjoys when her students understand what they are learning and feel confident enough to speak french. 

When she first started teaching high school, Mrs. Brusselle thought that the high schools here in California were huge. She also mentioned how amazed she was by the rallies because in France they do not have them. In France, they tend to strictly be about education only; whereas here, we try to mix school with some entertainment, so students want to come and enjoy being at school. 

The wisdom Mrs. Brusselle would like to share with the students here at Rancho. She said, “When you first start high school four years may feel like a long time but when you are older four years goes by really fast. You tend to wish you had enjoyed it more and taken advantage of it more. So, do not stress so much and enjoy it.”