Name: Paris Hunsaker 

Teaches Art, Culinary Arts, and Consumer Ed

When you were in high school, what did you want to be in college or as a career?

“So, all my whole life since I was a kid, I wanted to be an artist and… I wasn’t really sure what I should study for that…I went to Elk Grove High School… and I was always in art throughout my years in high school… my one teacher suggested that I become an art teacher. And then I said ‘Ok! I’m going to do it!’ And it’s kind of funny because my whole life—when I was in high school, I always said ‘I’m not going to be a high school teacher or a teacher at all! That’s just going to be horrible!’ But I ended up doing it anyway!..With…culinary, I worked a lot in restaurants when I was in high school and when I was in college, so I was really lucky to be able to use all of my restaurant experience and turn it into and turn it into a CTE [certificate]…I [was] able to turn it into a teaching certificate to teach culinary.”

What college did you go to and what kind of path did you take?

”…I was going to apply to art schools, but I did the early decision for—well, actually, I just wanted to just go to Harper to stay local and stay with my parents because I didn’t reallly want to go far away and I had a lot of friends that were going to go to Harper. But I ended up deciding—well, my parents kinda forced me to apply to Madison Wisconsin, like, early decision and U of I early decision and I ended up getting accepted to U of I…since I got accepted, I ended up not applying to any other schools so I just ended up going there even though when I visited, I didn’t like it.”

What was your college major?

“…I majored in art education and I was thinking of doing a double major in painting and a major in art history but then I just did art education only…[but] I did end up taking a lot of art history and painting classes too.”

What drew you to work at Prospect?

“…I felt like life just presented an opportunity for me because I’m actually transferred from [the Newcomer Academy at Forest View]… so I was working one of the [2 year] programs that was for newcomer immigrants who just came to the United States and didn’t speak English… I…got hired there 2 years ago and then they decided to change the program so that now…newcomers are [only there for] one year…now, a lot of the kids are in all the public…schools… so a lot of the teachers got transferred. So, I got transferred here… Prospect…ended up choosing me…in the end, I was like, ‘I thought I was going to lose my job.’…[but] basically, they said they thought I would be good here and it would be a good fit for me…and I’ve been loving it!”

What excites you about being at Prospect? 

“It’s so different from the [Forest View]…at [Forest View], we didn’t have any activities or sports since we had buses…that would take these students from, like, all over the district. It was already very expensive to bring them to [school from]…all the areas so they couldn’t…pay to have…another bus…and also they just didn’t have…enough resources to have any… sports [or] activities and that’s something I think is…so cool about being here. It’s like, everyone’s really proud to be…here. And also a lot of people are involved with…activities and…different clubs. And also just everyone’s so nice…and the teachers are really helpful…I feel like part of a bigger community [but] in my other school, I felt more…isolated…it was just totally different.”

What is something you found to be unexpected about being at Prospect?

“I think that it’s surprising…just how nice people are. Like…people will…smile and say hi to you…even if they don’t know you…in the hallways…that’s kind of…surprising sometimes.”

What is something that you’re looking forward to being involved in at Prospect?

“[I’m] just…looking forward to all the activities with Art Club…it’s been, like, so fun so far, but I’m looking forward to [it]…of course, we’re starting off…with the boring things in art and then [moving to] the more like technical things… [in] the future [I want to] do more…fun activities…I’m looking forward to like doing stuff [with] clay, because I didn’t realize that we haven’t ceramics here. And I want to do…some art sales…and just like doing more stuff like that.”

What are your hobbies outside of school?

“I love to travel…my husband’s actually from Guatemala…I used to live [in Costa Rica]…that’s how I met my husband and then I moved to Guatemala [to meet his family]…on my vacations…I like to go and visit his family…try different foods…seeing the culture and meeting new people…it’s…really fun to travel.”

What’s the craziest food that you tried while traveling?

“…I feel like the craziest things I’ve tried…[is] this weird thing in [Costa Rica] called a water apple. It’s almost like a pear, but it’s like red…that was like my favorite fruit when I was living there. Or…these things that are…kind of like…leeches…[they are] spikey and the inside kind of looks like…a bulb…those are kind of weird, but really good…[I think] it’s good to, like, try things and experience [new] things…[those experiences] help me learn how to cook…I was never that good at [it]…but [my husband is] really good at cooking, so he’s always making me try more things and [teaching me] how to cook something. It’s really cool.”