Linda Kucma has been a teacher for about 15 years prior to coming to Ripon High School.

“I’ve done adult teaching from outside the school. I’ve done adult classes, which is private lessons, I’ve also worked with rehab places for drug and rehabilitation, and I also have taught juvenile hall,” Kucma said.

Aside from that, Kucma has previously taught at a wide variety of schools in many different districts.

“I’ve taught at Monte Vista High School in Danville, Black Diamond High School in Pittsburg, California, the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District, the Fremont Unified School District, Bellarmine High School in San Jose, along with my outside teaching,” she states.

Kucma chose to teach at Ripon High because it was different to her and decided to try something new.

“I had no idea where it was until I came to the interview,” Kucma states. “I have taught in very large schools, so I thought that it would be a nice experience to teach in a smaller environment.”

In the future, she hopes on having some art shows, and wants kids to learn about something new, exciting and different than what they have previously learned with art.

“I want them to experience how fun it is to be creative and hopefully they’ll experience it so their lives will improve and they learn that the creative side of them adds to their life experience,” she said.

Outside school, Kucma likes to walk her dogs and does training sessions with other dogs that are in service. She likes to meditate and value some quiet time and also takes art classes at Diablo Valley College.