Teacher Spotlight: Mrs. Clifford

English Language Arts Adviser – The Improvables and Gay Straight Alliance

Teacher Spotlight: Mrs. Clifford

This year marks Mrs. Clifford’s 14th year at Abington High School.  Mrs. Clifford teaches English Language Arts and is the leader of the Gay Straight Alliance. Her favorite part of teaching here at AHS is our school’s collegiality, that we “support each other in an effort to work towards a shared mission” (of providing a great education).  One thing that Mrs. Clifford organized last year that she would like to see happen again is the Acceptance Day Rally. She “loved to see the student population evolve into a united group,” celebrating everyone for their talents, academic and otherwise.

Mrs. Clifford is also well known for her creation of the AHS improv troupe “The Improvables.” She originally had the idea for the group in her public speaking class. The class would often play improv games to warm up, and the students loved improv so much that she decided to expand it and make a troupe in 2011. Mrs. Clifford has always been involved in theatre and acting, coming from a theatrical family. She took theatre classes in high school, did community theatre in college, and also participated in improv in college. This year’s Improvables stands apart from the rest because after a loss of eight seniors, there are a lot of new faces this year. They are a “super talented and energized group,” said Mrs. Clifford, and she also likes that there seems to be a lot more student leadership. The plan for this year’s Improvables is to hopefully have a show at the Middle School, one or two evening shows, and of course the in school show. The projected dates will likely be near the middle of November, and everyone should come to see them!