I recently met with Brittany Staack, an FACS teacher at East. Some of Ms. Staack’s hobbies include sewing, cooking, and her cats! I wanted to find out what it was like to be a FACS teacher as well as some of the challenges or benefits when you have that role.

Jordan Brandt: You teach a variety of classes, which one is your favorite to teach?
Brittany Staack: It’s hard, because the classes that I teach are so different. It’s not easy to compare them. For a foods class, I love to cook. I love seeing when a kid cooks something and they love it. But Interior Design is fun because I can show a kid a concept and they can do something that I would’ve never thought of doing. Kids can truly show their originality in that class. If I really had to choose, it would be Interior Design, but it’s hard.
JB: What other reasons do you like teaching a food class?
BS: I think our society is heading towards eating out and eating quick, but you can still do those things with limited time. I like teaching kids the skills of cooking so they can feel confident and also make things that they like, and try new things.
JB: How many years have you been teaching?
BS: Six years. I’ve taught at Papillion-La Vista South for two years and now East at four. Sometimes I feel very smart, but other times it can be overwhelming because we teach so many different kinds of classes.
JB: Is it difficult to teach an FACS class sometimes?
BS: It depends on the class and curriculum, as well as the students. We aren’t doing the same thing everyday. I’ve gotten better at creating procedures for my classrooms so the students know what to do.
JB: Do you think everyone should take an FACS class?
BS: Yes. I think taking Infants & Toddlers should be a required class. We have a lot of kids in Culinary classes but classes such as Interior Design or Creative Clothing, we don’t get as many kids in. I wish we got more boys because even in my Health Science classes I only have three boys. We just don’t get as many boys and I think it would be nice if we had more. I am getting more and more boys in my Interior Design classes which is good. It’s not a girl class.
JB: Do you think there’s a stigma around FACS classes and that they are “for girls?”
BS: Yeah, I think so. East has a really wide variety of classes that could be gender-specific. I think there should be a push between teachers, administrators, and counselors to say “Hey, you might like this class, take it!”