Genesis Larsen of Pascagoula has been a teacher for over two decades.
She started her career in education in 2002. She taught English to grades 9-12, mainly SATP English II, and Pre-AP English for grades 9-11 at Gautier High School (GHS). She also taught Journalism and served as the department chair and District Curriculum Coordinator for Secondary English.
For the past eight years, she has been at Resurrection Catholic School (RCS) where she currently teaches 8th grade English and Journalism for grades 11 and 12. She is also the school librarian and Senior Events Coordinator.
She received her Bachelor of Art in English Literature from the University of Southern Mississippi. During her senior year at USM she studied abroad and spent a summer in London, England.
She credits the amazing English teachers she had in high school – Judy Frye, Dr. Daphne Dannreuther, and Sharon Ladner, as well as mentors Pam Holbrook and Sidney Carol Murphey – for her becoming an educator.
“They always taught with so much knowledge and love for their students. I always loved literature, and in my senior year, I knew that was what I wanted to do,” Larsen said.
Her favorite part about teaching is the students.
“I love laughing and spending time with them, and I love when one of them has an ‘a-ha’ moment and ‘gets’ it. Teaching allows the perfect combination of teaching while helping to shape them into good, strong, confident young people.”
What she finds challenging is how difficult it is to balance everything that goes into teaching.
“It’s definitely not a job that is restrained to a normal work day. Most teachers are always planning, thinking, worrying, and doing other things that help make a school run well.”
One of her most rewarding teacher moments was being chosen twice as a STAR teacher, once at GHS, and again last year at RCS by her lifelong best friend’s son. The student with the highest ACT score and qualifying GPA is chosen as the STAR student and he or she gets to pick their STAR teacher. The STAR teacher is someone who has most influenced them in a positive way.
“I was able to teach him at RCS, and being his STAR teacher was one of the highest compliments I have ever received.”
Teachers teach, but they are also always learning. For Larsen, it was through her greatest mentor and colleague at GHS, Jana Walmsley, who taught her how to enjoy teaching through engaging with her students. Walmsley passed away from ovarian cancer in 2011, but even during her chemo treatments she was never too tired to attend a sporting event to watch her students, to dress out for spirit days, or to prepare her students for a state history exam.
“Because of her, I have a very special group of friends, some still teaching with me here at RCS and others who have retired. We all learned from her that life is too short, so celebrate everyone and every moment as much as you can.”
As the Senior Events Coordinator she has the privilege of helping seniors prepare for the final milestones of high school.
“I helped my principal, Kristal Sisson, plan the first ever senior parade during Covid, and it is still one of my favorite events. I love taking pictures at all the events and capturing those moments to share with the families.”
Giving back is also important to Larsen, and one of the ways she and her family do that is through the Ernest and Pauline Larsen Legacy Scholarship. It was established by the Larsen family to honor the memory of Ernest and Pauline Larsen who sent 8 of their 9 children to OLV (Our Lady of Victories Catholic School, which became RCS), establishing a tradition of Catholic education that continues today. The family set the following criteria for the scholarship: the recipient of this award must be a multi-generational Catholic student who possesses many of thesame attributes of Ernest and Pauline. He or she must be hard-working, kind-hearted, and resourceful while maintaining integrity and a strong sense of Catholic faith. The scholarship is awarded each spring to an outstanding RCS graduating senior.
When not working, she enjoys spending time with husband, Justin, and daughter, Lila.
*Photo courtesy of Genesis Larsen, RCS
