New Year. New Teachers. Grady, this year, has added two new teachers mid-semester to the teaching staff, Kate Carter and Victoria Goya have been recently hired.

Goya has both career experience in the United States and Spain. She graduated top of the Universidad de la Laguna-Tenerife in Spain and then received a Masters in economics in the U.S. Goya has career experience in a variety of areas, spanning from marketing to administration, but is now teaching part-time at Grady, with four Spanish I classes.

“She’s a great addition to the team,” AP Spanish teacher Ms. Ortegon said. “Senora Goya is a really nice person and doing really well for a teacher coming in at the middle of the year. She has good energy and Spanish I is a difficult class to teach.”

Goya has felt very supported by the staff and administration. She is very gracious for their advice and help. Goya now lives in the Grady cluster and has enjoyed the transition to teaching.

“Teaching is a demanding profession,” Goya said. “It was challenging at first but after these first weeks I have found my ground, and I am learning  what works with my students, and how to keep the discipline and attention in my class at a reasonable level. I am really enjoying my teaching experience.”

Carter is a “new-old” teacher. Carter was the journalism co-adviser from 2008 to 2014 at Grady. She worked alongside former adviser Dave Winter “job sharing.” Carter loved this position because it was the perfect confluence of teaching and journalism. Carter then left the Southerner after six years to devote time to her family and her husband, Jason Carter’s run for governor. Carter left after her departure from Grady.

“Ms. Carter was great,” former editor in chief J.D. Capeluoto said. “[She’s] so encouraging and nice and fun to talk with and learn from.”

After working as a feature section editor at the Atlanta Business Chronicle, freelancing for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and launching her own business, Carter has returned to Grady. She came back at the advice of her son.

“I really missed teaching,” Carter said. “My son who was 9 at the time, now 10, this summer said, ‘You know mom, you just don’t seem as happy as you seemed when you were teaching. You should think about going back,’ and hearing that out of the mouth of a 9-year-old makes you really pause and listen to yourself, and so I started thinking about shifting back at that point.”

Carter is now teaching British Literature and American Literature classes, sharing a room with AP Literature teacher Susan Barber.

“Teaching has its challenges and jumping in January is particularly challenging, but there’s not a second even when I’m frustrated or when I feel like I’m struggling with something there’s not a second where I feel like I’m not doing what I should be doing,” Carter said.

Both Carter and Goya plan to continue teaching at Grady as long as possible.

 “I’m in it for the long haul if I have the opportunity,” Carter said.