Written by Doug Goodnough
Anna Cannon, ’22, considers teaching her mission. After graduating from Hillsdale College, Cannon spent a year teaching middle school history and religion at a public charter school in the Bronx, New York.
But she was hungry for more. A colleague recommended the St. Thomas Mission led by the Archdiocese of Ergin, part of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq. The mission was recruiting American teachers for the Mar Qardakh School, which educates Iraqi Christians in a country that is predominantly Muslim.
“I had a friend who was teaching in Iraq doing what I’m doing now,” Cannon said. “I thought, why not?”
Now in her second year with Mar Qardakh, Cannon said she is enjoying the experience immensely.
“I think my biggest surprise is that it doesn’t feel like a third-world country,” said Cannon, who resides in Erbil, a city of approximately 300,000 people in the northern part of Iraq. “It’s a lot more developed and a lot more normal, I guess you could say, than I expected. There are a bunch of nice restaurants, and I do work at my coffee shop after school.”
Make no mistake, an American living and teaching in a previously war-torn Middle Eastern country has its risks. Cannon said she dresses modestly when out in public, and the former Chargers track high jumper said being a tall American woman also garners some unwanted attention at times.
However, she said her teaching experience has been “amazing.”
“It’s why I’m here for my second year, and I likely have more in my future here,” said Cannon, one of eight American teachers at the school. “I love teaching here. The teachers have pretty much complete freedom in the formulation of their lessons. I am writing my own curriculum, which is an experience I wouldn’t get anywhere in the U.S. I love being able to develop my curriculum. I can pick things I’m passionate about, pick things I want my students to learn, and then make it happen.”
Cannon teaches high school history and religion.
“All of my students are Christian,” she said. “It’s nice to be able to teach students who are on the same page about what they expect in religion class.”
She said the goal of the school is to strengthen and educate the minority Christian community in a country that has a history of persecuting Christians.
“They are definitely facing adversity, partly because of their numbers,” Cannon said of Iraqi Christians. “And partly because their persecution is so recent. Just 10 years ago, Christians were being killed. My students have memories of that, so they are still on the rebound from that trauma and suffering. But they are also far enough away from it that they are starting to figure out, ‘Where are we going from here? What’s next?’”
She said terrorists from groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda are still around, but mostly in hiding. The continued U.S. presence in Iraq has helped decrease the terrorist threat.
As an International Baccalaureate school, Mar Qardakh classes are taught in English. Cannon said students often speak up to four languages, including Arabic, Kurdish, and a dialect of Aramaic that was reportedly brought to the region when St. Thomas the apostle visited the area at the time of Christ.
“It’s quite amazing to casually hear them speaking this dialect of Aramaic,” Cannon said. “That’s the language my students speak at home with their parents.”
After school, she maintains a busy schedule. Using her athletic background, she helped coach basketball, volleyball, and soccer last year.
“I led the basketball program, which was great,” Cannon said. “It was really good for students to have that element in their education.”
She is completing an online master’s degree at the University of Birmingham and also gets to travel the world when classes aren’t in session. However, she said the history of Iraq is “fascinating,” and she has enjoyed exploring a country called “the cradle of civilization.”
“We got to see the tomb of Nahum,” Cannon said of the Old Testament prophet. “Because Iraq is not a large tourist destination, no one is around. Archeologists know about this place and all the history here, but not many other people outside those circles do.”
She said she had an adjustment to make when she first attended Hillsdale from her native San Antonio, Texas. That experience, as well as the one she had in the classroom, prepared her well for her current role.
“For an ill-equipped teacher, this would not be a great environment for them. But Hillsdale really formed me well to thrive,” Cannon said. “I loved the time at Hillsdale academically, studying philosophy and classical education. I loved the professors and the content we were studying. I didn’t realize until I started grad school how much it prepared me academically.”
She definitely wants to stay in education but is not sure about her long-term future.
“I’m not too worried about having a specific idea yet, because right now, I just want to get experience,” Cannon said. “That’s what I’m doing here—seeing education in another country, but also writing curriculum and teaching different classes across different grades. I’ll see where that leads me, what connections it gives me. I’m just waiting to see where I feel my talents can best be used.”
Doug Goodnough, ’90, is Hillsdale’s director of Alumni Marketing. He enjoys connecting with fellow alumni in new and wonderful ways.
Published in December 2024
