“You never know what path your life will take. It’s a journey you can’t predict. I try to be open to the possibilities in every situation.” Rita Schiavone, the
ceramics teacher at Carrboro High School, tries to convey this philosophy to her students. After her husband’s sudden death two and a half years ago, “I started doing things instead of just talking about them.” One result is the vocabulary wall in her classroom linking the elements of art, the principles of design, and pottery terminology.
A self-described foodie, Rita appreciates what we have here, especially “when I go away and then come back.” Rita’s students make pottery for Table’s Empty Bowls fundraiser, which she calls “a reminder that others are hungry.” Both the word wall and her support of Table are ways Rita finds to incorporate “what I have to do as a teacher with what I love to do.”
