By Hayley Lewis
You don’t just teach, you inspire. This is something many students can say about Christy Garmatter. Garmatter has been teaching for 20 years now ranging from Puerto Rico, Pandora to finally landing at Bluffton in 2019.
Garmatter started her education path by teaching at Wesleyan Academy in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. Wesleyan was a private Christian school that was English speaking rather than Spanish.
“One of the most challenging aspects was that I had a class of 30 students who knew very little English,” said Garmatter. “I had taken four years of Spanish in high school, but I wasn’t prepared for this level of communication. So, the students and I all worked together and taught each other.”
Garmatter is a tutor for the Learning Resource Center (LRC) on the third floor of College Hall where she has helped and inspired many students over the years.
“Christy is my foundation here, and I feel more students should form a relationship with her,” said sophomore Zach Rhynes.
The story of how Garmatter ended up in Puerto Rico brings her teaching career full circle. After her cross-cultural trip to Jerusalem during her last year at Bluffton University in the fall of 1996, she started toying with the idea of teaching overseas. She had never considered it before the trip. She later expressed her interest when chatting with her academic advisor in the spring of her senior year but didn’t do anything else with the idea.
Shortly after Garmatter graduated in 1997 she received a letter from her advisor with information about Wesleyan Academy needing teachers. She applied on a whim thinking, “Why not?”, and within a week she was flying to Puerto Rico for an intensive multi-day interview.
Christy Garmatter in her office in College Hall (LRC). Photo taken by Hayley Lewis.
Only a few days after returning home she received notice that she had gotten the position. However, she only had five days to get ready and move to Puerto Rico with the school year starting at the beginning of August. Two years later she decided she missed her family and was ready to head back to Ohio. Garmatter says her teaching in Puerto Rico was still one of the best experiences in her life where she built everlasting relationships.
Garmatter says her biggest goal was and still is to build relationships with her students and have 100% connections. While doing this she wants to teach the students good time management and study skills that will last beyond school.
“Christy is someone who made me feel valued and unstoppable in the classroom and out,” said sophomore art education major Kayleigh Michael. “She became a role model and like another mom to me. She will be someone I will always remember from my time at Bluffton.”
Garmatter sees success in many different ways. She sees it as helping a student at any age and watching them have that “ah ha,” moment. Success is also in building relationships and connections with her students, seeing her student’s become teachers for others, when students participate more and watching them fall in love with learning again.
Garmatter wants everyone to know, “Bluffton is a place where you can take risks, change your mind, and put forth the effort because there are plenty of people who want you to do well and succeed.”
