Genie Holmes to embrace new opportunities in California

After seven years of teaching at Blair and 30 years of living in the Washington, D.C., area, ESOL teacher Genie Holmes plans to move to California to embrace new opportunities, enjoy the outdoors and spend time with her family.

She began teaching full time at Blair during the 1995-1996 school year. Blair has allowed Holmes to work with some of the teachers who taught her children, like Maureen Diodati, Norman Stant and John Mathwin. Holmes feels the school helped shape her children. "My kids became who they are at Blair," she says.

Holmes loves participating in the lives of her students. "I like being involved with the kids, getting them involved with theater [and] sports." Holmes' reasoning behind this is that "I know they'll learn English better if they get involved." She proudly reports that this year she had four students in Merry Window, and four of her students were 4.0 scholar-athletes.

While teaching ESOL classes, Holmes encourages learning of other languages but also helps students keep in touch with their cultural roots. "I honor their land. I don't want English to be a killer language," Holmes says. "We need a multilingual [society]. It's not a dilettante thing; it's vital," she stresses.

Holmes believes the relationship she has with her current and previous students is meaningful. Last year, for instance, one of her students called from the Marine barracks in Camp Lejeune because he was scared about fighting. She also loves it when her previous students call her to ask if she will attend their graduations or drop by her house to show Holmes their babies.

Holmes is now leaving Blair to move back to California. "I'm retiring in the sense that I'm not teaching at Blair anymore," she says. Holmes does not know what she will be doing in California yet, but she does not think Blair will be her last teaching experience.

Holmes is a self-proclaimed New Englander and grew up in Vermont. She attended the University of Missouri and during her Experiment in International Living experience in Germany, she realized she wanted to learn different languages and help others. While attending the University of Chicago, Holmes worked as a teaching assistant in the John Dewey Lab School. Holmes also taught in two towns outside of Chicago, which were "mostly Black and Chicano neighborhoods," says Holmes.

Holmes also lived and taught in San Diego and Los Angeles for a number of years before moving to Washington, DC. Along with a friend, Holmes created the first Head Start program in LA. According to Holmes, the San Fernando Valley, where she taught for 15 years, is a very "multicultural, multilingual" place.

While in California, Holmes also was a member of groups that fought for different causes such as helping migrant farm workers, fair housing and promoting peace in Vietnam. "I worked on integrating housing, integrating schools," says Holmes.

According to Holmes, her experience in peace groups was very memorable. "It's amazing the people who flow through your life when you're involved in peace groups," Holmes said. Notable people who Holmes met were Cesar Chavez and Pete Seger.

During her time in California, Holmes taught fourth, fifth and sixth grade Latin American Studies. Holmes also studied anthropology at California State University at Northridge.

Holmes moved to D.C. in 1974 to pursue new experiences. When she moved to Takoma Park, her three children were all in middle school and high school, and the eldest enrolled at Blair. She found this coincidental, because her son had also attended a high school called Blair in Pasadena.

When Holmes first came to the D.C. area, she worked at the Smithsonian between 1975 and 1977 to prepare for the Bicentennial celebration and represent countries for the Folklife Festival. Holmes was in charge of representing Mexico, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland and making sure that people from those countries attended the festival.

Between the time Holmes left the Smithsonian and started working at Blair, she had many small jobs. She worked for seven years as an Executive Assistant at Occupational Safety and Health Administration under the Department of Labor.

Holmes worked at the press desk for Walter Mondale and Ferraro's presidential campaign in 1984. Though Mondale lost the race to Ronald Reagan, Holmes still cites her work for their campaign as a good experience. "I learned a lot and had fun. Too bad we lost [the race]," Holmes says.

She worked as an organizer for the state of Maine, was in charge of the training programs at Workers Institute for Safety and Health for several years and worked with the pesticide division at the Environmental Protection Agency.

Though now Holmes speaks some German, French and Spanish, she says she can relate to students about how difficult it is to learn new languages. A long vacation in Micronesia reminded Holmes of her love of multiculturalism. Though she was living at the top of a secluded mountain with a family that she had no means of communicating with, Holmes loved the experience. "I learned to use a machete and swing from the vines, and I taught the kids how to use my camera," Holmes says. "That's when I said to myself, 'I'm ready to teach.'"

Holmes then went on to get her Bilingual/Bicultural degree at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She started substitute teaching in Montgomery County and was drawn to Blair because all three of her children went there.

In California, Holmes looks forward to the ocean, hiking, enjoying the mountains and taking advantage of California's proximity to Mexico.

No matter where she works, Holmes will enjoy working with immigrants and children because it is so rewarding. "It's a very, very meaningful job to be involved to help new residents to feel at home in the US," says Holmes.