When first meeting Professor Greco, Diana and I knew that this would be someone we were going to remember. Gina Greco earned her Masters in English at SUNY Albany and has since been working as a teacher and professor for 24 years. She first taught at-risk kids in high school, kids that were troubled and at risk for failing out. She then taught adults at a female correctional facility, spending her days teaching inmates English and writing. Now, she teaches full time at Hudson Valley Community College and Siena College. This gives you a brief description into her life, we asked questions to try and dive deeper.
What did you think of Siena when you first got here, compared to now?
When beginning at Siena she understood that the school followed Franciscan values, and had been a bit unsure of how she would fit in at Siena. Once starting here she realized that she actually suits the Franciscan values and agrees with them although she does not practice religion. Her original thought that Siena had a restrictive philosophy ended up being completely wrong. She explained that teachers are given a good amount of freedom and a good moral foundation along with a inclusive community. She now has three classes while working 22 hours in the Writing Center. She ended up, surprisingly, loving it.
You have a huge personality, what do you like to do for fun?
She said quickly that she likes to write a lot of poetry, paint, run and volunteer to do scenic design at Shen middle school. She paints sets for school plays and designs what’s gonna be there and does math to find out the dimensions. She gets the sets detailed enough for men to build and then she paints. On St Patrick’s Day, she has students volunteer to help her and they ended up being there for nine hours. The students ended up meeting a lot of her family and bonding and enjoying themselves. Her students were so committed to her and her craft. They took painting to a larger level. Greco remains busy outside of teaching.
Where do you see yourself after you’re done teaching?
Greco says with all the confusion in her lifetime she would never be done teaching. She will be in the hospital teaching online and she can’t think of any reason to be done spreading her knowledge to students and kids. She mentioned how she actually brought her computer on her honeymoon and was dedicated to her work on a cruise ship. She’s also in the process of trying to get her book published, and even so, she still wants to teach throughout all of this. She expresses how she gets free performances every time she teaches, she is a huge theater geek. She sticks to her word, she will never be done.
If you could be anything other than a professor what would you be?
She said, with no kind of hesitation, that she would be a political activist for social justice reform and civil rights. She would spend her days on the forefront of justice and action. She explained how she inherently loves everyone and especially advocates for her students and forces education on them. She explains how you always have to be better and putting in the work as a student, being someone who taught kids who were almost failing out of high school, she spoke of this very seriously. Kids that needed that change and the push to learn and to be better. This lady has seen it all. She said she would also dedicate her time to create an alternative high school for at-risk kids along with training young new teachers. She explains that all you have to do is be funny and give love.
Advice to any student that’s stressed out feeling like it’s the end of the world, not knowing exactly where they’re going with their life?
Overall, Greco understands how students, especially in college can have rough times. Students might often feel alone or as if they are moving along this journey of life with no hope. Greco understands this and stated aromatherapy, lavender chamomile lotion and candles, as well as melatonin vitamins to help with sleep can make students feel less stressed out and not alone but comfortable and many students use these tricks to help with stress. Feeling like you’re alone is a terrible feeling. Even professors have rough times but she sticks through it and remains positive. She has people that sign up just to talk and she’s completely okay with that. Not even her students come to her and she is willing to speak with them. She moves students to shape their lives at young ages where they have time to grow and lets them know they have so much potential. She expressed how no one should ever feel alone since they are never alone and going through one thing by themselves. She is here to help and mend her students up.
Writing is a good outlet to express emotion and she realizes a lot from her students writing. This helps her know her students more and analyze them and help them respectively. From only knowing her for a little bit over a month, she is so inspirational and wonderful and dedicates her life to her students and her family, especially her two daughters. She genuinely loves what she does and inspires students to be the best version of themselves when times get rough. Life is a journey and we always will get over the obstacles. Professors like Gina Greco will leave an impact far bigger than what they can imagine. She has already left a huge one on us.