Tahoma Talks: A Sit Down With a Former Tahoma Student & Staff Member

Summit Tahoma opened its doors in 2011 to bring a new medium of learning with the Summit curriculum to South San Jose. Ms. Nguyen, a college student and employee at Summit Tahoma, attended the very school she now works at. I sat down with Ms. Nguyen to hear about her Tahoma experience and how the school has evolved in the eleven years since its founding. 

How long did you attend Summit Tahoma?

I attended Summit Tahoma for my freshman and sophomore years before transferring to Oak Grove as my sister attended that school. 

What are the major differences between Summit Tahoma when you attended and now?

The campus was smaller, and there were fewer classes. Teachers also had to teach multiple classes in different grade levels. One of my mentors, Ms. Iwamoto, had to teach Modern World 2 and AP U.S. History, and Mr. Wills had to teach both AP math classes and Math 2. Every mentor group also had two mentors, mine being Ms. Iwamoto and Ms. Alatorre.

What made you come back to work at Tahoma?

My good relationship with my mentors made me come back. When they were my mentors, they were fresh out of college and young. They were more like sisters to me as we did not have a large age gap. 

How were expeditions different when you were a student at Tahoma?

There were more on-campus expeditions as people used online learning less then. I took Yoga and Coding on campus. Expeditions also gave you credit as a class back then; now, they just say if you took it or not. 

How could Tahoma change for the better?

I think that they could offer more college prep classes. I also think offering more than one language class would be nice. At college, you have to take finals. I'm taking finals right now that are worth sixty percent of my grade. Tahoma should prepare students for that. 

How does Tahoma help you prepare for college?

Tahoma makes students take classes that look good on a college application. They make you take AP classes for almost every subject. When students at other high schools have two credits from classes, you already have four. Tahoma has goal setting and time management in their ideals and also helps students when they have a large workload later in life. 

What can Tahoma students do now to become successful in college?

Learning to manage your time and prioritize your work. I think Tahoma prepares you for that, but learning to manage your time and when you get your work done can help a lot in college. 

Conclusion

We can learn from Ms. Nguyen that Tahoma has helped her prepare for college and beyond by teaching her to prioritize her work, allowing her to learn time management, and helping her craft a good-looking college application. Ms. Nguyen valued her time as a student at Tahoma, which brought her back as a staff member. While Tahoma has changed over the past eleven years, Ms. Nguyen believes it has changed for the better.