Alison Glaeser

Alison Glaeser (10) comes from a family of educators, but it was at PLNU where she first got a feel for her future career. She graduated from Point Loma in 2010 with a degree in literature with an emphasis in english education.

She completed her teaching credential from PLNU in 2012, and is now a special education teacher at Torrance High School in Los Angeles, where she teaches English to juniors and seniors.

Alison has taught at Torrance High for five years, and she also serves as chair of the special education department.

In her classes, Alison teaches American and British literature. At PLNU, Alison took an African American literature course, which stands out in her memory because she got to learn about an area of literature that was familiar to her. Now, she teaches the same works she read and learned about at PLNU.

“My students really benefit from me having taken that class,” she said. “They are really interested in that area of literature.”

Alison also took a poetry class with Dr. Katie Manning, which she says changed her for the better. That class at PLNU prepared Allison to help her students, who sometimes have difficulty with poetry, understand that poetry isn’t something to be afraid of.

As part of her degree, she took a class in writing theory, which required working as a tutor in the literature department’s Writer’s Studio, a workshop where students can receive help with their papers.

Before and after tutoring sessions, Alison and the other tutors would spend time in the studio hanging out with one another and working on their own papers. She says the time spent in the studio helped her form the basis for what she wanted to do in her career.

“It really cemented my thoughts and my ideas about teaching, and I got to develop deep, lasting relationships in an environment I probably wouldn’t have been part of otherwise,” she said.

Alison never realized how much PLNU prepared her for her future career until she was in the classroom, where she says she knew exactly what she wanted to teach and what she had to prepare for her classes.

In her classroom, Alison has a PLNU pennant and postcards hanging on the wall, and she has the opportunity to have conversations with her students about her alma mater. She tells her students she went to a Christian university, and that the faith-based environment is something she personally values. Alison teaches for a public school, but she says she gets to express her faith in her work through her actions.

She also has some great baseball players in her class, so she mentions the school’s gorgeous field.

Alison is passionate about her time at PLNU because she says it made her who she is today. “My time at Point Loma was a very important part of my life,” she said. “It shaped me and it will always guide me.”