Photo by CJ Whittick
Olivia Pulliam joins the English Department
There is another Ms. Pulliam teaching at Riverside this year.
Olivia Pulliam was hired over the summer to teach English 1 and Creative Writing.
It has only been a month into the school year, but she already feels like a part of the community.
“Everyone here is very nice and very family-oriented,” said Pulliam. “I already feel at home.”
Pulliam said this year is off to a good start and that teaching has been an experience.
“It is a delight most of the time and a valuable experience in other times,” she said.
She loves that as a teacher she has a way to influence students’ futures and help them find their path.
“Being able to cultivate young people’s minds, and watching them really start to understand their place in the world, and what kind of things they are going to be interested in, and focus on for their career,” said Pulliam. “That’s what’s valuable about it. Being able to make those connections and then help people grow.”
Pulliam used to be a substitute teacher in Western North Carolina for about four years. She said that teaching middle schoolers was frightening and that working with high schoolers is better.
“High schoolers are rational and almost adults, so I feel closer to them when I’m teaching them,” she said.
One of the hardest parts of her job is feeling like she’s not doing enough to help others be successful.
“The most difficult part of my job is wanting really badly to see people succeed and then feeling like you’re not doing enough to get people there,” she said.
Her mom – Amanda Pulliam – also teaches history at Riverside.
“We don’t really interact that often, because we’re in different departments,” Olivia Pulliam said. “It’s very funny to watch upperclassmen kind of connect the dots.”
Even though they don’t see each other very often, Pulliam finds it a nice coincidence that they both work here. More than a month into her new job, she is happy to have chosen this career path.
“I really just love my subject,” she said. “English is the subject for me and I’m excited to teach other people.”
