Although she has spent 25 years teaching English, Fettweis didn’t always have a love for the subject. In fact, she hated it in high school. Being a teacher, let alone an English teacher, wasn’t even on her mind; she considered multiple careers and majors before settling on education.

“If you told me I was going to be a high school English teacher, I would have been like, ‘No way,’” Fettweis said.

She continued to explore careers through high school and college. She explored law, classical saxophone and political science.

She went to college at Wake Forest University in North Carolina because they had a classical saxophone teacher and she planned to pursue music. But the music program wasn’t what she expected, so then she switched her major to political science.

While pursuing political science, Fettweis ended up in a class that made her reconsider her major, so she dropped it. She then ended up in the only English class left and fell in love with it. “It was an American autobiography class, and it was amazing. It was the first time I liked school,” she said. That inspired Fettweis to switch to an English major with a minor in gender studies. 

After graduating, Fettweis worked for a year in New York as a paralegal while thinking about her next steps. She decided to go back to school for an English PhD program and got paid to teach rhetoric and interpretive literature to undergraduate classes. This is when she found her love of teaching. 

After earning her Master’s in Literary Studies and a Master of Arts in Teaching, Fettweis thought she wanted to be a college professor, but she soon realized that she wanted a deeper connection with her students than being a professor could offer. She could, however, develop those deep connections as a high school teacher. 

Her sister, also a teacher, has been her biggest teaching inspiration. Fettweis’ grandma was a teacher too. “It’s one of the reasons I didn’t change my name. She was Mrs. Fettweis, and I’m a Fettweis teacher, just like her,” she said.

Fettweis was a student teacher at City High. A job position opened up afterward, and she got hired on the staff there. Fettweis went on to teach at City for 21 years. “It was actually a little bit harder at City [to transition grades] because I taught Kirkwood Composition and ninth grade, and it was two different planets,” Fettweis said.

Despite those difficulties, she loved working at City. “At City High, there’s a huge emphasis on having good relationships with students, and I really liked that part of our culture,” Fettweis said. 

Even though she loved City, she felt it was time for a change. She saw the amazing teachers her two sons had at West and wanted to be a part of that community.

“I figured I can keep [learning] on a new side of town. There are a lot of people here who I really love and admire, and I wanted to get a chance to work with them,” Fettweis said.

Her eldest son, Keith Moody, is a senior, and Fettweis wanted to see him as much as possible before he graduates, even if it is just 10 minutes in the hallway. Moody has enjoyed having his mom at school with him so far. “Sometimes I’ll just walk by and say hi, at least once a day just because,” he said.

“As my kids got older, and I realized how fast high school goes, I realized it’s time. If I want to be with them, the moment is now,” Fettweis said.

She is very grateful to be at West. “It is a remarkable school in a lot of different ways,” she said. “I love that people bring such different experiences to the classroom and that, even if I’m teaching something I’ve taught 1000 times before, I feel like somebody helps me see it in a new way,” Fettweis said. 

Fettweis enjoys her new job at West while still loving and missing her old position, colleagues and students at City. She states that kids are kids anywhere, even between rival high schools. “As a teacher, I’m grateful that it’s very similar here, where people are constantly learning and growing.”

She still keeps in contact with her colleagues from City. “I really love [and miss] the people in my department, but I’ve still kept in touch and I know they’re going to be my friends no matter where I teach,” Fettweis said.