Ms. Youngblood-Jarman has been teaching for nearly 30 years, 22 of which have been at ERHS. She’s been all over the place: “I got my credentials under Montana, and then I taught with the Peace Corps in Russia, and then I taught in Ireland, and then I came back here and I taught in a language school at Woodbury University.” Although she is primarily an 8th grade English teacher, she’s taught everything from 7th to 11th here on campus, and has also taught English as a second language in other countries, study skills, competition drill, and yearbook. This will be her 20th yearbook.
Ms. Youngblood-Jarman is more than just a teacher, though—she contributes to ERHS in many other ways. Along with Mr. Oliveros, whose class is down the hall from hers, she sponsored the Class of 2017. “I do other things on campus like the Safety Group that we have on campus, the Search and Safety like when we have drills, School Site Council, LSLC (Local School Leadership Council), and the Instructional Leadership Team,” she explains. She and Ms. Gallegos are also heading the WASC Accreditation (for the school) this year.
As a teacher, she’s a pretty dedicated one. Last year, when everything was online, she spent a lot of extra effort on supporting students: dropping books off at people’s houses, checking in on them, and delivering food to students when their families had COVID. In order to create a connection with students, she says, “I found myself for an hour or two after class just sitting with them and they would show me their animals or even during class time trying to create that space and I think it was mostly about checking in, making sure they were okay.”
Outside of teaching, she does… more school. She’s been taking college classes since she was 16. “I’m finishing up my master's in English at Harvard. This is my last class. So I’m just trying to wade through that. It’s good. It was a gift to myself. And it’ll be a gift to be done,” she says.
That’s not to say she doesn’t have hobbies: she loves yoga, and, surprise surprise, she’s certified to teach it as well. She also loves to travel, often taking students to Europe in the summer. She has 3 kids and a cat named Cupid, too.
But what anyone will notice about her most is that she is always open to learning more. “I think like most teachers, I love to learn, constantly exploring new ideas to keep yourself going. I think that's what I like about teaching, like sparking that curiosity and making connections,” she says.
We love madam younblood