Kinsey Pettigrew-Taa is one of our new additions to the Ripon High tribe this year. Not only is this her first year teaching at RHS, but it is also her first year teaching overall. This year Pettigrew-Taa gets to teach the ninth grade physical education class and is looking forward to inspiring kids to become more physically active!

At the age of four Pettigrew-Taa and her family moved over from Montana to Himar, California where she grew up due to there being more opportunities for their future. Pettigrew-Taa is currently married but does not have any kids. Before Covid struck, she played indoor soccer frequently and enjoyed going for bike rides, walks, and spending time with her dogs.

Before coming to RHS, to become a physical education teacher, Pettigrew-Taa was in school. She attended CSU Stanislaus, where she in addition played soccer and earned her bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology. After getting her degree, she attended CSU’s credential program for a year, then came about being a teacher at RHS.

 “Both my dad and my brother-in-law are PE teachers and seeing them teach showed me that I would be interested in teaching”, Pettigrew-Taa explained.

In a way she had many people inspire her to look at the teaching career path. Both her dad and Brother- in- law are P.E teachers who taught her that that path would be something she would like to take. Then a Math teacher in High School who helped her realize that teaching would be something she would enjoy in the future.

At RHS, she hopes to be able to teach the students to become more active and value the importance of physical activity. Teaching is only one of the few first steps Pettigrew-Taa wants to take. In the future, she hopes to be able to coach and further her experience handling physical activity as well. Not only does she want to see both growth in her students but also in herself, she hopes to be able to develop more as a teacher and continue growing. 

Just being a teacher in these uncertain times could be stressful and even more when you are new to a school and new to teaching overall. Although teaching has alternated, she still wants to be able to share a valuable lesson to her students and teach them that being physically active is important. 

“RHS has been better than I expected it would be. Everyone has been very welcoming and has made me feel at home here. I couldn’t have expected for it to be any better than it is,” Pettigrew-Taa exclaims.