gOshkosh North employes many excellent teachers and great staff. These teachers allow their students to flourish academically and socially, as well as enhance their knowledge in the classroom. An example of such a teacher is Sra. Tracey Sayavedra.

Sayavedra has been teaching for thirty-six years, thirty of those has been for the Spanish department at Oshkosh North. She has taught three different levels of Spanish throughout her time here including Spanish one, two, and three. Her desire to teach Spanish began while still in college.

She said, “I did a summer mission trip in Mexico for eight weeks while in college where I lived with families for the whole summer. I listened [to the people speak] and that is where I acquired all of my Spanish that I would learn my first semester of language back at school. ”

Growing up, Sayavedra did not have the opportunity to take a language class at her school. She said, “I grew up in a very small town in Wisconsin and my high school didn’t have any classes for me to take. My school only had about one hundred students and if you wanted to learn another language, they would bus kids from three schools to learn German.”

Despite not have language classes at her high school, Sayavedra has offered the luxury to students at Oshkosh North for many years. Throughout her time here, Sayavedra has encountered many different personalities, both those of students and staff alike, and made many memories.

Her most favorite involves the other languages from her department, she said “When North still offered French and German as an elective, myself and the other language teachers would get together and celebrate for the birthdays. We would all bring in however many things that person was turning that year into their classroom. One year I brought in paperclips. It was just a fun thing us language teachers would do.”

Her favorite thing about teaching at North has been all of her students.

She said, “My favorite thing about teaching Spanish has probably been encountering people’s different personalities and how different people learn things differently and at different times. I really enjoy seeing everybody’s quirks.”  

Not only has Sayavedra taught Spanish, but she also has taught music at other locations. She said, “I also taught elementary music during my first year in Mexico and in Minnesota, I taught high school music and band.”

After she retires from teaching this year, Sayavedra plans to move to Argentina with her husband, who is originally from the country, along with her youngest daughter.  She said, “We have a lot of family in Argentina. My husband has five sisters over there, so moving won’t be that hard.”

Oshkosh North has been very fortunate to have had the privilege of Sayavedra’s teaching, and her legacy at the school will be the impact she has had on her students and their willingness to continue their studies in Spanish.