Photo by Jacob Lawrence

Alecia Markgraf smiling widely in her classroom

Alecia Markgraf has known that being a teacher was her calling since tenth grade, and attended CSUSM for their credential program, graduating in 2004. Over the years, she has developed a teaching style aimed at building connections and encouraging collaboration between her students. She’s gone as far as to create individual lesson plans for each specific class based on the kids in that period.
This kindness stems from an odd year of teaching AP Language, her second year of teaching to be specific, in which the class was unusually small and there was a strong connection between the students.
“The students in that class really cared about each other. . . it was a great environment of positivity and uplifting,” said Markgraf.
This set the precedent in Mrs. Markgraf’s mind that collaboration and unity was an absolute must in her classroom, fostering reliability and determination in each new batch of students. This is reflected not only through her student’s AP scores, which are above the country average almost every year, but also through the respect each class holds for her. Few times can she genuinely remember a poor classroom experience, solidifying her status as a MHHS legend.