When dance instructor Andrea Oberlander asked FUHS teachers to volunteer to dance in the spring dance concert, French instructor Rebecca Haggerty was the first one to say yes.

After all, Haggerty loves to dance. She loves to support students. And she loves to connect with other teachers.

“I signed up right away when we got the email. I practically sprinted to that Google form,” said Haggerty, who performed with 16 other teachers at Saturday night’s dance concert.

Haggerty has a history of trying new things. She taught French at La Habra High School for 10 years before transferring to Fullerton this year. While at La Habra, she noticed the Zero Period music class was learning how to play the ukulele.

“I didn’t teach during Zero Period, so I said, ‘Hey, this might be kind of a weird question, but, could a teacher come and sit in on that class and learn how to play the ukulele?’”

La Habra choir and music teacher David Montoya said, “Absolutely.”

“Rebecca used to come into my Zero Period ukulele class and she performed with our Ukulele Ensemble,” Montoya said. “She loved being a part of the class even if it was early because she loved making music with the students. She also plays guitar, and even sang a solo at one of our concerts. Rebecca is awesome.”

And it’s this positive energy and willingness to try new things that has made Haggerty effective in the classroom as well.

Senior Mikayla Sloan says her IB French Oral exam went really well because of Haggerty’s blend of high standards and compassion. “Ms. Haggerty was reassuring me the whole time because she knew I was nervous,” she said.

Sloan said Haggerty has helped all students grow by designing her lesson plans to accommodate everyone’s level of speaking in the class. “She also pushes us to try and get out of our comfort zone by speaking more,” Sloan said.

Senior Matthew Martinez says frequent practice helped prepare him for the French IB Oral Exam. Haggerty gives students two pictures to choose from. With a partner, students describe in French one of the pictures. “One time we had a picture of a group of people looking at the Mona Lisa inside a museum. The other picture was outside the museum with displays of public art,” Martinez said. “I chose the one outdoors because it had a lot of colors and I know my French colors really well.”

Martinez says the biggest gain he’s made as a French student this year is thinking in French instead of translating words into English or Spanish (his first language). “I’m truly understanding French. Especially now when I’m reading French, it finally just makes sense in French to start to think in French.”

Haggerty also supported her AP French Language students by arranging a field trip to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Feb. 27. They focused on the exhibit called “Collecting Impressionism.” 

Senior Sarah Barron said the trip connected to the different French art movements she’s been studying in class. “They even had some fashion designs that correlated with the art themes,” Barron said. “I thought it was really cool.”

Barron said her favorite part of the day was seeing Impressionist art and, surprisingly, enjoying the modern art as well. “When you look at it up close and it just seems like all these dots of color, but then you just kind of step back and you see it makes an image like a woman on a lake or in a garden,” Barron said. “I think it’s really interesting when you try, like take a step back and you look at the overall picture.”

Haggerty said the best thing about the museum field trip was seeing artwork that they had discussed in class. “Students were in awe of seeing the actual works of Monet, Degas, Renoir, Picasso, and many others,” she said. “Magritte’s famous ‘The Treachery of Images’ (Ceci n’est pas une pipe) was on display and we had used that as an example of Surrealism so many students were excited to see that one in particular.”

“I love French art,” Haggerty said. “I was fortunate enough to take an art class while I was studying abroad in Paris. Impressionism happens to be my favorite movement of art, so I’m really glad that we were able to find exhibits about Impressionism.”

Haggerty grew up in Fullerton. She attended Fern Drive Elementary, Laguna Road Elementary, Parks Junior High and Troy High School.

She attended the University of Redlands where she double majored in French and Communicative Disorders. “I was actually initially studying to be a speech language pathologist or speech therapist,” she said, “but I just kept taking French classes on the side for fun.”

In 2023 she married her husband Edward, who works in Admissions and Records at Fullerton College.

Haggerty loves French but is not a native speaker: “The funny thing about my family is that even though none of us are actually French, there are a lot of French speakers and French appreciators in my family. My grandpa lived in France for a while. My great uncle also spent some time in France where he met his wife. They moved to the United States and he taught French at Hollywood High School for a long time. And his son is also a French teacher and he currently teaches French in Los Angeles. So, lots of French in my family, but none of us are actually French.”

When FUHS’s previous French teacher Alexandra Walker became a guidance counselor this year, Haggerty was happy to transfer from La Habra to Fullerton, especially because she lives so close to the campus.

“A lot of people know me as the teacher who walks to school. Every day I walk here and back. It’s a 10-minute walk for me. I found out that a couple of students of mine are actually practically my neighbors, so that’s really cool too.” 

In addition to prepping AP/IB students, Haggerty teaches all levels of French. Her students love her energy and her willingness to provide fun experiences like making crepes in class.

Freshman Jenna Hang said that her favorite class is French because of the steps Haggerty takes to create a strong bond with her students. She said that Haggerty is constantly checking up on her to make sure that she’s doing okay. “She’s really nice and understanding. And then when I had a problem a few months back, I talked to her about it and then she let me open up to her and then she gave me consoling words and that just made me feel really much better about myself.”

Haggerty said she believes she’s made some really great connections with students: “I love seeing their creative sides come out and getting to know them as people.”