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by Natalie Romeo, Student Contributor

page-5-natalie-gibson-big-ben-2ALC alumna Natalie Gibson is living her dream of traveling the world. A graduate of June Buchanan School as well as Alice Lloyd College, Gibson is a native of Pippa Passes, but always dreamed of travel. It wasn’t until she came to ALC that she thought her dreams could become reality. Gibson said, “Traveling was not something that I thought of as a possibility.”

During her early years as a student at ALC Natalie’s eyes were opened by her English professor, who had spent a semester teaching in London. “When I met him, it was like, this can happen,” said Gibson.

She started at ALC as an English major but realized her passion lay in teaching. “Everything kept leading me back to the classroom,” Gibson reflected. After graduating from ALC, she obtained her Master’s Degrees in both English and Education. 

Over the years, Gibson’s love of travel didn’t diminish. This summer she had the honor of spending time in London and Paris, thanks to the British University Summer Study Scholarship, which allows teachers to study overseas at Oxford University, Edinburgh University, and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London. During her time in Europe, Gibson also witnessed many of England’s famous landmarks and monuments, including Robert Browning’s grave.

Being from Pippa Passes, a town that Alice Lloyd and June Buchanan named for a Browning poem, Gibson felt that visiting Robert Browning’s grave was a unique full-circle moment. “Due to everything that I’ve experienced through Alice Lloyd College and the June Buchanan School, I was able to actually make it to London and see his grave. It was one of those surreal moments,” she said.

Gibson has returned this fall to her JBS classroom with a renewed sense of purpose. “My background at Alice Lloyd and the people that I met through Alice Lloyd really showed me that I can do this,” Gibson said. She currently teaches high school English at the June Buchanan School, where she hopes to inspire her students the way her own English professor inspired her.