best%20photo%20ever%20taken-550?v=1

Class is Always in Session

Teacher Profile | Jeannine Rogel

Her farewell celebration was one for the books. And that’s not just a teacher joke. In 2012 six hundred people gathered at Bellevue High School to celebrate the long and storied career of Jeannine Rogel. The room buzzed with the kind of camaraderie and easy vibe that comes with having something or someone in common, in this case, Ms. Rogel, at the end of 47 years as a teacher in the Bellevue School District. A career that was based in a classroom, yet managed to take her around the globe, often with students in tow.

Rogel is the daughter of educators who, she says, sparked her love for teaching and advocacy with a home environment that dispensed with typical gender roles, and instead encouraged the kids equally, “Although my brothers did get away with a little more and my mom cooked.” She developed a teaching style that was an extension of how she grew up, working to make students feel cared for and valued. But that doesn’t mean her classroom didn’t have rules; 1) Respect All, 2) Not Here, Not Done and 3) No Whining. 

As she reflects on the challenges teachers face today as public servants and the difficulty students navigate with the distraction of screens and increased social pressures she is even more convinced of the importance of creative and independent thinking. “Teachers must be willing to redo, rethink or retread and have a strong grasp of instructional skills,” she says. Meanwhile it grows even more crucial that students read and learn to keep going, and speak up, “So what if you’re wrong?”

Past students remember the classroom projects and assignments that became traditions; the times test, the Heritage Project and one of Rogel’s favorites; the annual performance of The Wizard of Oz that sprawled to 73 cast members to be inclusive to all. Her dynamic approach to curriculum allowed her to both develop, and receive, unique opportunities including a year long software development partnership that landed her students on the cover of The Seattle Times, a chance to raise salmon with the Department of Fisheries, an Fulbright Scholarship for research she presented to a conference at Oxford, and multiple trips with students and parents to faraway places like India, Africa and Washington DC where she experienced one of her most embarrassing moments. Supreme Court Justice Kennedy lightheartedly scolded her for trying to help her students pass his pop quiz by loudly whispering to them that George Washington is known “as the father of our country!”

Today, although she is long retired, her family, life long friends and students continue to drive her ongoing quest for knowledge and connection which includes an annual pilgrimage to the Chautauqua Institution. Her sister and her best friend of over sixty five years are her go to sources of inspiration and she advises everyone to keep a group of friends who support and understand you, “Water and nurture those relationships, don’t let too much time go by.” 

  • best%20photo%20ever%20taken-300?v=1

Related Businesses

Related Articles