It’s never easy when a teacher has to miss a day or two, and it’s even more difficult when a teacher has to miss several months. Following Pulido’s maternity leave, there was a need for someone to come in and guide Pulido’s English 12 and Theater 1-2 and 3-4 classes, as well as be an advisor for the drama club. Fortunately, there was no other person better for the job than former Alisal English teacher Natalie Bernasconi.
Bernasconi was born and raised in Denver, Colorado where she earned her undergrad in English at Colorado State. With plans to initially hitchhike to New Orleans, she ended up in California instead where she obtained her Masters at CSUMB and her doctorate in UC Santa Cruz.
Not many teachers would come back to a school they previously taught at, especially after retiring, but Bernasconi took Pulido’s offer to sub in for her class due to Alisal’s environment. “I felt so honored to follow in Pulido’s footsteps because she’s an amazing teacher,” she said. “She’s a very strong woman and so I was honored to come and step into this, but also, as I said I taught at Alisal for six years and I left to help open Rancho, but I always felt that I had unfinished business at Alisal. I always wanted to come back, I missed the students; the students are really special so it was wonderful to have that chance.”
Her extensive teaching career started long before she came to Alisal as she started out as an English teacher at La Paz Middle School where she resided for 10 years. She later came to Alisal to teach for six years, and then finally moved to teach at Rancho San Juan for three years before her eventual retirement.
The broad and versatile aspects of English is one of the many reasons why Bernasconi loves what she does. “I love teaching English because you can bring so many things in; we can read about scientific discoveries, we can read about history, we can read about contemporary times’ top 100 influencers, it all fits perfectly under the English umbrella,” she said. The mystery of what the day will hold is what motivates her to show up and teach everyday. “No day is boring; the students always surprise me, they delight me, treat me, drive me crazy, you know, it’s always so interesting.”
English is only one of things Bernasconi is most passionate about. Being a very active person, she enjoys hiking, traveling, reading, and most of all, playing soccer. “I really love to play soccer. I’ve been on the same team for 29 years now, and that just gives me a lot of joy. We play on Sundays with my team up at Cabrillo college on their field sometimes,” she said.
She also finds passion in bringing more awareness to the state in which our world is in, and what the current generation can do to fix it. “I’m also really passionate about young people being engaged in caring about what’s happening in our world and fighting to make it better, because right now there’s a lot of stress and tension where people have a different visions for what this country should be, and I just think it’s so important for young people to be engaged and to participate, to be civically engaged because my generation has made a mess of the planet,” Bernasconi said. “It’s so painful to even think about it, and it’s left your generation with a hot mess, and young people need to be fighting for what they want and for their futures because there’s a lot of problems that need solving.”
But most of all, Bernasconi finds the utmost passion in her family. “I’m really passionate about my family because I love them dearly. I have a little granddaughter; She’s so cute, she has a little British accent because she lives in England.”
After spending the past 2 years in retirement, it didn’t take long to remind Bernasconi what she loves about the job. “Honestly, when I stand in the hallways and see students walking by and students walking in, that’s our future right there and I find that really inspiring to be able to be of support to young people, that’s the best part.”
With a little over a month left, Bernasconi still has a lot more to look forward to as the school year begins to come to an end. “I’m looking forward to going to the graduation ceremony and seeing the class of 2024 walk, I think that’s going to be very powerful,” she said.
