Professor Jessica is the amazing teacher of Adaptive Guitar and Innercise Mindfulness classes.
For Professor Jessica Thompson, teaching at CAA is about more than leading a classroom, it is about celebrating individuality, embracing new experiences, and finding creative ways to help every student succeed.
Professor Jessica has been teaching at CAA since 2022, and has been teaching exercise classes for much longer. Her passion for fitness began with her own love of movement and staying active, which eventually inspired her to share that enthusiasm with others.
She enjoys teaching exercise based classes at CAA because she feels like all the differing abilities push her to be more creative in the types of exercise lessons she plans. Rather than approaching planning these fitness classes the same way as she would for classes somewhere else, she learns from her students and develops new ideas to make the movements more engaging and accessible to their specific needs.
Some of her favorite things about CAA is that every student brings something different and unique to the classroom, and she loves never knowing exactly what to expect each day.
In fact, one of her most memorable/funniest memories came from something completely unexpected. While CAA was filming one of her classes one day, a student arrived covered in red and looked like a crime had just occurred. But when Professor Jessica nervously asked what had happened, the student casually said that they were just eating Hot Cheetos. The moment perfectly captured one of the reasons she loves most about teaching at CAA, that there is always something surprising, funny, or unforgettable happening.
For Professor Jessica, these are just some of the things that make teaching at CAA so memorable. Her students encourage her to be more creative, while their unique perspectives remind her that there is no single way to learn and be active.
Professor Jessica is welcoming her first baby in November, and we are very excited for her!
— Written by Nina Pal, Volunteer