The last sixteen years of Stephanie Fullen-Safian’s resume are pretty typical: “French teacher at Los Altos High School.” The nineteen years prior to that, however, are much more out of the ordinary.
From volunteering as a revolutionary activist in Poland, to working as a U.S. Diplomat, to curating an exhibit for a children’s museum in Germany, Los Altos High School French teacher Stephanie Safian is an expert in being a citizen of the world.
When she was 19, Safian’s passionate support of democracy pulled her into a grassroots organization, Solidarność, which focused on liberating Poland from communism. As an underground courier, she distributed newspapers to people in her neighborhood, circumventing the state-controlled media.
“I got to Poland at the end of this long period of the country not having rights,” Safian said. “When I heard about a freedom rights movement, I was captivated. I wanted to do something there and make a change.”
Safian recalls the night she helped one of her Polish friends, a Solidarność leader of the local student union, escape the country by motorcycle. Safian’s friend had wanted to start a media agency in Greece to spread awareness about the oppression that the Polish people were facing.
“I was on the back of the motorcycle, holding on to him, and the only thing I could see was the cement on the road,” Safian said. “But I just felt like we were being held by this safe energy and we were going to be okay.”
This advocacy was transformative for Safian — it cemented her beliefs not only in democracy but also in the right to protest, create change and, most importantly, to stand up for the things that you believe in.
After attending The School of International Service at The American University, Safian worked as a foreign relations officer for the Mayor of Poznan, Poland. Safian loved the country so much that she decided to become a U.S. diplomat to Poland, working at the U.S. State Department Embassy in Warsaw.
After her time in Poland, Safian wanted a break from her years in politics and decided to tour around Europe, visiting interactive museums all over the continent. They were so striking to her that she returned to the U.S. to study early childhood education with a focus on interactive learning at the University of Michigan, eventually working in museums all over Europe.
Going back and forth between Europe and the Bay Area, Safian eventually moved back home to the Bay Area and attended Stanford University for graduate school. After she received her teaching credentials, Safian became a teacher at LAHS.
“I became a language teacher to help young adults gain a skill to hopefully open doors to these kinds of experiences that enable them to be citizens of the world, ” Safian said. “They can be a part of something bigger — they can make a positive impact on the world.”
In her classroom, Safian encourages her students to aspire for more than the ordinary and to pursue careers that truly interest them.
“There are some students who have a glisten in their eye, like maybe this is something that the student would want to do,” Safian said. “And in that case, I really try to be like ‘you can do this!’”
Among many of her students, junior Maulik Dhakal is particularly grateful to Safian. As a law-inclined student in a school he believes is “STEM-focused,” he felt exceedingly supported by Safian’s encouragement to strive to do things he genuinely wanted to do.
“She really cares about you — not just as a student, but as a human being,” Maulik said. “And she really wants to see you grow, which is really cool.”
Similarly to Maulik, senior Anna Zhong believes that Safian’s classroom has changed the way she views the value of world languages.
“It was pretty inspiring to see how studying language can create all sorts of different opportunities that you may not have been able to have without knowing a different language,” Anna said.
Safian aims to encourage more students to create change within LAHS and beyond. Her piece of advice to students?
”You know the next thing you want to do. Now, how do you make it happen?”
