As she raises both her arms above her head, she clenches her fists, celebrating ecstatically about her triumphant accomplishment. With a smile stretching to the tips of her ears, she remains awestruck. “YESSSS,” she roars, with genuine excitement, all for having defeated a book. She is the type of person to have literary crushes on fictional characters and compares devouring novels to “eating the most amazing bite of cheesecake.”  Kailin Pappert — a complete book nerd, and she’s absolutely proud of it.
New teacher, heavy pressure, no air conditioning. After her first set of interviews and sample lessons, her first formulated impression of CCHS was that it was undoubtedly a “hot environment.” Nonetheless, she remarked that CCHS had also presented a friendly and  welcoming environment. “I learned that everyone is genuinely helpful and nice,” Pappert said. After teaching at Animo Venice for 9 years, she felt as if she was “ready for a change”. Pappert expressed that although CCHS is much larger in comparison to that of her previous school,  students still have access the individual support that they need and are given so many options to be involved. “As a mom, it’s really nice knowing that my kids will go to school here.”
Unsurprisingly, Pappert revealed that her love for English had sprouted from an early age. That being said, John Irvine, John Steinbeck, Shakespeare remain as her favorite authors of all time. “Words have power. You can get people to do and feel things through words,” Papert said, passion blazing in her eyes.
Lively and enthusiastically, Pappert runs her class, hoping that some of her excitement for English will transfer to her students. “She gets excited about our essays and starts doing a happy feet dance,” sophomore Joanna Assad said. Pappert hopes that her seniors feel more prepared for college and that the rest of her students leave her class feeling more confident about their English abilities. Pappert said, “It really doesn’t matter where in the world you teach, kids are kids.” Most of her students generally enjoy her class and appreciate the effort she puts into teaching. Senior Lilly Liu said, “She’s very passionate about English and her style is always on point.”
Pappert mentioned that she has always loved children and meaningful work. “I’m someone who needs hard work,” Pappert said, which explains her decision to become a teacher. Though, having parents who were both teachers, she swore to herself that she would never become a teacher. In fact, prior to being a teacher, she aspired to become a journalist. Despite so, she has found nothing but happiness in teaching. Pappert revealed that there are even times when she doesn’t even know the answer to certain questions, but having the opportunity to facilitate reading and writing has been so fulfilling for her. “Those little moments” are what make teaching English so worthwhile for Pappert. Simply observing the intelligent discussions that her students partake in as they unpack literary works has made her realize that as a teacher, “You are generally humbled by how students can impact you.”