One of Mead’s three Spanish teachers, Ms. Kathleen Freischlag, has an impressive amount of teaching under her belt. Freishchlag has been teaching for a total of 22 years, seven of those years at Mead. She has even taught in Central New York.

For the 2023–24 school year, she is teaching Spanish one and two; this has been consistent over the past few years. She has a bachelor’s and master’s in liberal studies, which is a popular gateway into teaching. “I’m a firm believer in liberal studies because everything you learn is related to everything else you learn.”

During her time outside school, Freischlag enjoys reading, hiking, traveling, spending time with her chickens, and gardening. She has four chickens and one dog named Vito, and she has one son, who is 25 and a naval officer. Ms. Freischlag has traveled to Mexico, Spain, and Costa Rica, along with Austria, Italy, Germany, Canada, and many other states.

She has always wanted to be a teacher, even when she was very young. “Even as a little kid, I would play teacher.” She has lots of teachers in her family, ranging from P.E. to English. Because she came from a family of teachers, and after meeting so many people who spoke Spanish, it felt like a fit. She said, “I have a good ear, and I’m a good listener, and when I went to Spain, I thought, ‘Man, this is cool,’ and developed a passion for Spanish.”

Freischlag feels she has a strong connection with her students; she loves seeing them really understand and love to speak Spanish. Her favorite memory she has from teaching is when “many years ago, I had a student who was nonverbal, and one day I remember that we were doing an activity and he spoke. At the time, I had known the student for three years, and he didn’t speak until then, and it was in Spanish.” She has lots of students who will follow her on social media and maintain connections beyond high school.