Ms. Asha Exit Interview

This year our beloved art teacher Ms. Asha is leaving our school to commit to continuing her pursuit of higher education—now, full time. Witherly Heights caught up with Ms. Asha before she leaves the school for good but continues to inspire us to be creative and pursue our goals, dreams, and ambitions in this next chapter of her life.  

Witherly Heights: Why are you leaving?

Asha Kalonia: Some of you all know that I am in graduate school and the schedule is in conflict with full-time teaching 

WH: How long have you been teaching at Alsion? 

AK: I have been teaching for 6 years at Alsion, but I started teaching before while getting my teaching credentials, I was a teaching artist. But Alsion was my first real teaching job 

WH: What was your job before Alsion 

AK: I was a teaching artist, It’s like an art teacher. I was going around the bay area, and I would be at a different school each week or a museum. 

WH: What was the green art workshop? 

AK: It was a non-profit organization in the bay area that promoted green art. Making art out of upcycled eco-friendly materials. 

WH: How did you get involved in that?

AK: Craigslist, I would not recommend doing that now. 

WH: Have you only taught art or have you taught other subjects as well? 

AK: It was only at Alsion where I began teaching art. But I have taught history and current events but art has always been the main thing. 

WH: What are you going to do after you leave? Do you have a bucket list? 

AK: I will continue taking my graduate school courses, and after that hoping to be practicing and teaching art.

WH: What do art therapists do? 

AK: Art therapists generally are in school settings, hospitals, or non-profits. It’s like being a licensed psycho-therapist but with art. So after I graduate I would have to get hours and then take the licensing test. 

WH: What got you into art therapy?

AK: I noticed that even though art wasn’t always everyone’s first choice of class, that one hour of class could be very relaxing. And teaching you all got me interested in art therapy. 

WH: What do you like and dislike about teaching at Alsion? 

AK: What I like about teaching at Alsion is that I have complete control over the curriculum and I have a lot of freedom and have gone through trial and error. What I disliked was that there should have been more art time. 

WH:  What was it like being a student at Alsion?

AK: Interesting, it was a very unique experience. It was fun, the biome trips were memorable. The friendships you make here last a long time, one of my best friends at Alsion is still one of my closest friends to this day. 

WH: What was it like being both a student and a teacher at Alsion? 

AK: It was really weird, I honestly didn’t think I would ever teach here. Having my teachers become more colleagues was really weird. It was really weird calling Ms.Michelle by her first name for a long time. But I got the perspective of both sides so that was interesting. The behind-the-scenes work is interesting, knowing what goes on in teacher meetings, the planning, and what it takes to create a curriculum. And also just talking to the teachers. When you are a student you see them as more of an authority figure and there’s a separation so it was very interesting. 

WH: Are there any changes that you have noticed about Alsion? Which one was your favorite change and which one was your least favorite? 

AK: Definitely adding more teachers. When I was a student Ms. Michelle was my Science, English, History, and Current Events teacher and Mr. Bill was just my math teacher and we had a part-time Spanish teacher. So, the place expanded. There are more programs—the art program exists. More extracurriculars, you all have a garden with chickens and bees. Market day didn’t exist. This campus didn’t exist when I was here so everything was a lot smaller. I didn’t go to early college but my brother’s graduating class including him was only 3 people and now it’s like 20. So, it’s kinda cool to see how much its changed. My least favorite change… well this is more superficial but why are there carpets in the science and art room? 

WH: How did your family find and choose to send you to Alsion?

AK: It was because of Montessori. I was a Montessori kid. I had Ms. Brunner as a teacher. They started Alsion in 2001 and the school was literally in the courtyard and library in MSF. And then they finally moved it to that building next door. I feed into the elementary school and then the middle school and my brother continued on to Early College and I just went to public school. 

WH: What was Alsion like when you attended?

AK: It was fun. Small. It was definitely more separated. Even though it was next door we didn’t really interact with the elementary school. It was pretty, pretty cool. I bet if you go down there you will see a brick that has my name on it. The coffee shop was right next door so we would always go there for lunch. It was a good experience. 

WH: What was it like going to school with your sibling?

AK: It was so annoying. My brother and I pretended we weren’t related (I never did go to school with my sister though). Yeah. We are friends now. 

WH: What was your most memorable experience at Alsion?

AK: There are just so many. The little moments I’ve had with students while teaching art. There are just so many memories created over here. So many funny moments like [redacted senior] and [redacted senior] were posing modeling for your sculptures. [Redacted senior] I remember in seventh grade was so concerned about his grades he use to like come and try to discretely look over my shoulder while I was grading to make sure he got a good grade. But all the fun moments. 

WH: What was your favorite biome trip and biome memory?

AK: Oh, Death Valley for sure. Just because the environment is so different from anything I’ve seen before. It’s so amazing. Pupfish! Like how do fish survive like that in a stream of water? Artists Palette—the cotton candy-colored mountains. It was so cool. It’s just everything. As a student, also just being with your friends. And as a teacher, hanging out with your co-workers not always having to be grading and stuff. I would say the sand dunes are my favorite memory. Watching you all roll down the sand dune thinking why would they do that. But you all are having so much fun 

WH: How did you end up teaching Alsion? 

AK: Actually someone reached out to my mom who is a math professor and asked if she would be interested in teaching art. And she was just like why? And I happened to have just started full-time getting my California state credential. So we got this connection and I met with the head of school. Rosemary at the time, and they were interested in hiring me. And I had to have this whole formal interview. I was extremely part-time. I would come only 1-2 days a week and eventually it grew after I graduated, to a full-time program. Realistically I thought I was just going to go there and it to my resume and leave but I ended but actually enjoying it more than I thought. 

WH: Is there anything else you would like to tell your students before you leave?

AK: Stay creative. Be true to yourselves. I know that’s also kind of corny but it will help you in the long run.