(BA '08, TC '09) English-secondary teaching emphasis
Harold Haak Award for academic achievement

Vanessa Ronk came out of FPU's Teacher Job Fair with the ultimate bird in the hand: a job offer. But she turned it down to help start a school that hasn't opened yet and, as of May, doesn't have a building.

Ronk plans to teach English and social studies at Big Picture High School Fresno (www.big-picture-high-school-fresno.org), a charter school approved in spring 2009 by Fresno County Office of Education.

Organizers hope to open in the Tower District with 125 freshmen and sophomores and add new freshmen classes until the school is full. Ronk's contract begins in August, but she's already involved. "There's a lot of work to be done," she says.

Big Picture focuses on small schools, where:

• Students get to know each other, teachers and administrators.
• Teachers make education plans with the students and parents.
• Students learn how to dress and act in the workplace and spend several hours each week shadowing someone in a profession of their choice.

Students have had a great deal of academic success at Big Picture schools, and educators can make instruction relevant, Ronk says. This is particularly easy in a large subject like English. "English can become a part of any subject because its part of all disciplines. You write in everything," she says.

The risk is worth it to Ronk because Big Picture has the emphasis on relationships and community she's already grown to love. "This school model is very much in line with Fresno Pacific," she says.

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