Creativity governs my life, but so, too, does symmetry. Having a balance between my right and left brains has allowed me to be a successful artist and writer but also a methodical educator. I can visualize eclectic spaces, write a sprawling novel, and create a detailed lesson plan equally well. Add onto that my almost superhuman organizational abilities and time management skills, and the result is constant creation and productivity. My mix of passions is varied, but they all revolve around my love of story.

 

• Teaching the Art of Filmmaking and Media production: No matter if the lesson is how to hold a boom mic, how to speak in front of a camera, or how to use visual language to communicate a moment, it’s all about using an audiovisual medium to tell a story

• Language Arts Education: Whether it’s writing instruction, film studies, or literary analysis, I teach students to understand how story works and help them bring their stories to life on the page

• My Own Writing: I cannot be satisfied with simply teaching young people how to write, which is why I also do it myself! There are so many stories in the world to tell, especially in history, and I want to give a voice to those who never had the chance.

• Scenic Design and Technical Theatre: a live performance is the ultimate way to tell a story. I learned to approach my designs as a storyteller, to make the set a character that helps to bring all the other entities on stage to life.

 

I am at home on stage or working behind the scenes, in front of a camera or operating it, before a room full of people or writing alone in my office. Painting, performance, pedagogy, film, fiction, dance, research, or music—you name the intellectual or artistic pursuit, and I’ll be there to take part . . . or at the very least observe. Creativity courses through my veins and keeps me moving constantly.

 

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Educational and Work Background

Sarah Hoeynck earned her B.A. from Colorado College with majors in English and Drama before going on to achieve her M.A. in English from Saint Louis University in 2010. She garnered various awards from both institutions, including the Outstanding Drama Student Award from Colorado College and the Knapp Award from SLU, given to the most promising incoming graduate student. After completing her Masters, she taught for two years at a private high school in St. Charles before moving to her alma mater of Nerinx Hall, an all-girls college prep school. She is in her tenth year of teaching at Nerinx where she urges her students to discover and support the stories of those neglected by mainstream media and history. Five years into her tenure, she took over the film and media program at Nerinx, updating it to professional standards that include state of the art facilities, a college level curriculum, an annual student film festival, and a professional speaker series.

 

In 2018, she completed a Graduate Certificate in Teaching Writing from the University of Missouri St. Louis (UMSL) where she received the Graduate Award for Writing Studies. This program included an intensive summer course with the Gateway Writing Project, which is when she rediscovered her passion for writing fiction. As her capstone project, she drafted the novel WAR FRAU, a historical fiction/women’s literature epic based upon her family history. She is currently enrolled in the M.F.A. program at UMSL and recently completed her second novel, A SISTERHOOD ON FIRE, which is about women religious on the Kentucky frontier in the 1820s. When she isn't writing or teaching, she also designs at least one show a year for the Nerinx Hall Fine Arts Department as well as other educational and artistic institutions in the St. Louis area. She lives with her husband and two dogs in South City, but her true home will always be the classroom, whether as a student or teacher.