Welcome to Sr. Ru's Spanish classes. 

GVHS- Room 128

jrudolph@gvsd.org

Google Voice Phone Number: (484) 393-1878

I was born in Chester, Pennsylvania. I attended Strath Haven High School for two years. Then I spent my junior year abroad in Argentina as a Rotary Club Exchange student. This year changed me completely and I grew more in one year than ever before. This unforgettable experience convinced me to return to Argentina as a university student. On March 27, 1999, I began my first post-secondary classes at a private university in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. About the same time, I met my future wife Pamela Débora. As the only international student in a school of 14,000, I encountered challenges every day. I also had the opportunity to teach English as a Foreign Language part-time at an English institute near my apartment. Working as a teacher and studying in another language presented constant challenges. Each moment matured my character and defined my personality as an adult. Since all of classes were in Spanish, I scrambled to improve my language skills so that I wouldn't fail. However, I not only passed all my classes, but I also did well enough to earn an academic scholarship for the following two years. Even though I enjoyed the lifestyle in Argentina, social unrest in the country at the end of 2001 persuaded me to leave the country.  Débora and I got married on March 1, 2002 and we came to USA to stay on June 9, 2002. Because of my experience teaching in Argentina, I was able to obtain a position teaching ESL at Widener University even though I had not earned my Bachelor's Degree yet. While I worked part-time, I enrolled at Temple University as a Spanish Major. After finishing my Bachelor's degree, I enrolled in Widener University to get a Masters Degree in education so that I could teach in public schools. I then taught Spanish at Malvern Preparatory School for two years until I was presented with the opportunity to work on the Spanish curriculum as well as the Spanish program in general at Collegium Charter School in Exton. I was very excited by the opportunity to return to curricular design activities that I had enjoyed so much in the past. I spent the next 10 years at Collegium as the Spanish Department Chair in the Upper School until in 2017 I had the chance to teach at Great Valley, my home district. I am very excited to continue my teaching journey at our fabulous district.