LEGACY: Panthers Return to Their Old Pen
Peninsula graduates love to come back to visit teachers and friends; some go a step further and stay to teach. There are at least 13 teachers on campus that are graduates. Among them are World History Honors teacher Mindy Webster, English 2 Honors and Advanced Placement (AP) Literature teacher Rebecka Dibble and AP Biology teacher Emi Yamaguchi. They hope to leave a legacy through their current teachings and experiences from their high school days.
Webster’s experience at Peninsula as a student ultimately brought her back to teach at Peninsula.
“I loved being at a diverse and energetic school,” Webster said. “It was great preparation for college, and I am still in contact with many high school friends.”
Webster recalls how the school shaped her into who she is. Taking what she learned in high school, she provides students with life advice for high school and beyond. She hopes that through experiences in high school, students gain insight by critically thinking through issues and not taking things at face value.
As did Webster, Dibble grew up in Palos Verdes, admiring the strong level of education that she was able to receive at Peninsula. She always felt challenged by her teachers and students around her, which prepared her to do well in college.
“I came to realize how amazing Peninsula and the Panther community truly were, [so] I wanted to come back and be a part of it again,” Rebecka Dibble said. “[My experience in this community showed me that] ‘you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.’”
Dibble hopes that her students will embrace the challenges in their classes and realize that there is a lot to gain from their experiences.
“My favorite saying is ‘If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you,’” Dibble said. “Learn from your mistakes and appreciate how much you are being challenged because it is ultimately making you a stronger person.”
Similarly to Webster and Dibble, Yamaguchi became a teacher in hopes of inspiring students to pursue science after discovering her own for biology. Yamaguchi wants students to know that high school is a very important time in a person’s life and that students should truly embrace and savor those moments.
“I would say that students should enjoy [life in high school], to have fun, to make good friends, to experience life and to learn as much as they can,” Yamaguchi said. “There is no other time in your life, in which that is your only job, to learn as much as you can.”
As a Peninsula alumna, Yamaguchi wishes to instill a love of learning in her students.
“The most important thing for me is to leave behind is the love of learning,” Yamaguchi said. “Always having a growth mindset in trying to improve and trying to learn more and trying to get better at whatever it is that you are doing.”
