Meet our JH/HS ELA and Social Studies Teacher
Teddy Hamstra, Ph.D. (he/him)
Teddy grew up in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, with winters spent on the ski slopes and summers along alpine hiking trails. These formative experiences with the four seasons combined with endlessly rewinding VHS tapes of Disney's Fantasia and staging recreations of scenes from Star Wars with action figures between garden rocks and flowers instilled in him a love for imaginative storytelling and a curiosity about the vastness of the world. It was the many long afternoons at his grandmother's kitchen table listening to her stories about being a young adult in Latvia during the Second World War and her journey as a refugee to America, however, that subconsciously fueled Teddy's desire to become a writer and pursue an English degree at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
During his undergraduate years becoming immersed in American Literature and taking every Art History elective he could take, Teddy felt the calling to expand on his passion for research and writing by becoming an educator. To that end, he also received a Master's in English Literature from CU Boulder, teaching undergraduates about Shakespeare and graphic novels, and relocated afterward to Los Angeles when admitted to a PhD program in English & Visual Studies at the University of Southern California. Across six years in LA, his sense of the vocation of what being an educator can truly mean expanded beyond the standard path of seeking an academic role after graduation. While still teaching undergraduate courses in Writing & Rhetoric, as well as American Literature, at USC, he assisted in educational initiatives connected to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and collaborated with other arts organizations.
His eventual PhD project, "Enchantment as a Form of Care: Joseph Campbell and the Power of Mysticism," helped bring him in contact with the Joseph Campbell Foundation, with whom he worked over the past several years on numerous publications, research, and educational efforts. The title of that dissertation is also the core of Teddy's educational philosophy: fostering a sense of wonderment in students is truly an act of care, for when students are enlivened and encouraged to follow their bliss, the world around them is transformed into a more radiant and empathetic place. With a background in literature, visual art, mythology, world history and spiritual traditions, Teddy seeks to encourage students to see the connections across their many courses and interests. From using examples of visual art to enrich students' sense of historical context for a novel or learning the "rules" of poetry through the lyrics of their favorite songs, he seeks to bring students into an encounter with the power of storytelling from Beowulf to Beyoncé. Helping young learners along the hero's journey of their unfolding lives is Teddy's North Star as an educator.
In his spare time, you can find Teddy exploring the Austin Greenbelt and Hill Country on foot or by kayak, collecting way too many vinyl records, going to old film screenings with friends, or enjoying slow mornings of vinyasa yoga and reading outside with a cup of coffee.