Alan Howell, the Chairman of the Foreign Language Department, is in his 34th year of teaching at Fenwick.
What is your education and background?
AH: I attended Kalamazoo College as an under-graduate and earned a major in Spanish language and literature and a minor in instrumental music. I spent my junior year in Spain living with a Spanish family and studying Spanish history, art and literature. I completed the requirements for a Michigan teaching license as part of my under-graduate program. After graduation, I returned to Spain and taught English to Spanish students for several months. I did my graduate degree at University of Michigan, where I was a teaching fellow and earned an MA degree in Hispanic language and literature.
What did you do prior to becoming a teacher at Fenwick?
AH: Before coming to Fenwick I taught junior high English and high school Spanish at Whiteford Agricultural School in Ottawa Lake, Michigan. When I moved to Chicago, I took a job at an elementary alternative school teaching all subjects. Following that experience, I spent three years at the Academy of Our Lady on the south side of Chicago. I began my years at Fenwick in the summer of 1983.
What are you currently reading for enjoyment?
AH: I am reading the following books for my personal enjoyment: Science and the Afterlife Experience, When Healing Becomes a Crime and Secret History of Extraterrestrials.
What interests do you pursue outside of the classroom?
AH: My interests include gardening, watching classic films, reading and exercising.
To what teams and/or clubs did you belong as a student?
AH: As a student my main interest was band. I played in the marching band, concert band and the jazz band. My instruments were the trumpet and baritone. I was a member of the JETS club. I served as editor of the school newspaper one year. I wrote a weekly column about my high school’s events which appeared every Sunday in the Kalamazoo Gazette along with articles submitted from students of other area schools.
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