My journey with Avenor first started in 2016, when I started teaching a Drama club for Middle School. Gradually, my role evolved, my students grew and I with them – presently I teach GCSE Media Studies, IGCSE, AS & A Level Drama for High School students. In my work, every year, I have the privilege of putting on shows created with and by young Avenorians with a thirst for self-expression. Students in my Drama and Media classes study theory but they also create, direct and perform materials that showcase their personality, their interests, their ideas and their aspirations. This makes my job truly wonderful as I get to learn just as much from my students as I hope they do from me. When I started, 8 years ago, I could not have imagined a more exciting thing to do than to research, study, teach and create media and theatre works with young people. I still can’t. 

My passion for teaching is probably linked with my passion for learning and the curiosity that drove my own, apparently disconnected but in the end transformative educational journey. I first studied Analytic Philosophy at the University of Bucharest. After my BA in Philosophy, I worked in Marketing and Communications in the book publishing industry, before deciding to go back to University, this time to study Acting at UNATC. By my final year of Acting, it was clear that I was interested in becoming a theatre teacher, so upon graduating the BA in Acting I immediately enrolled in the Masters of Theater Pedagogy at the same UNATC, which I graduated from in 2012.

From the first interaction with a class of students I knew that my long and windy path had brought me to the right place. Between 2012 and 2019, I launched an independent acting school and taught acting classes for kids in Bucharest. I also collaborated with Asociația Curtea Veche on designing a curriculum for an early Reader’s Theatre programme that used Drama as an experiential learning strategy to help young kids enjoy reading. Alongside ACV I helped donate books to schools in rural environments and also helped launch the first edition of NARATIV Reader’s Festival. I also taught Drama at Enisala Summer Academy every year. 

In 2016 I wound up at Avenor teaching a Middle School Drama club and although it would be another three years before I became a full time teacher here, I again felt immediately that this is where I should be. Avenor is a school that is authentically committed to always becoming better, that the entire school, teachers and curriculum leaders alike walk the talk of providing relevant teaching and learning that truly prepares students to be Future Ready. Parents work together with the school and get involved in massive, progressive projects like building the Avenor Learner’s Profile. The community comes together to learn and grow and to support kids who grow up to be learners and who learn together.

For all of these reasons I consider it a privilege to be able to contribute to our mission of “co-creating the best future” as a teacher and also, as of 2024, as Form Tutor for 10 Delta.