Faculty of the Week: Inna Sysevich

Inna Sysevich smiles for a photo in front of her collection of Russian Matroyshka dolls

Photo Courtesy of Bianka Laufer

By SAM ALTMAN, IZYAAN BURNEY, and MARVIN SHIM

Instructor in Modern Languages Inna Sysevich, fondly referred to as “Mama,” has many roles on campus, from serving as the Academy’s only Russian teacher and a beloved Abbot dorm faculty to being a supportive advisor and an incredible friend. Many students and faculty on campus attested to Sysevich’s humorous personality, love for learning, and sincere care for others. 

Born into the establishe Soviet Union, Sysevich grew up in Kiev, raised by her grandparents. She grew up in an emergency housing unit after WWII for the first few years of her life, and was educated in a turbulent and tense period through college. While studying for her second degree, the Chernobyl disaster occurred, relocating Sysevich and her husband from the only home they’d known to a remote village outside of Kiev. At a small school, she began her teaching career in biology and chemistry. 

Sysevich shared that her educational background was initially in an entirely different field. “I also have a master’s degree in biology. I was fine teaching biology, but when I started I was in a different school teaching [in a different] language. [Russian] is much more exciting. But biology says, you tell me about how the ear is made. But teaching language, that also means teaching culture. And I constantly do that.” 

Sysevich and her faily immigrated to the United States in 1992, where she participated in an intensive summer program hosted at Bryn Mawr College, specifically for instruction in Russian. The following fall, she began teaching the language at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, in Dover, NH. Three years later, Sysevich applied for a position here at the Academy. 

Regarding the application process, Sysevich recalled, “Somebody told me they’re looking for a Russian teacher, so I sent my resume in and then I went and I got interviewed. But I really did love it. When I came on my first visit…the kids were really engaged and there was a small group of maybe eight or so, maybe ten. And so I saw the atmosphere — really conducive to learning, but at the same time, it looks like excellent chemistry.” She went on, “I came home thinking, It can’t take that long, and then they called me in 48 hours.”

Besides spending time in the classroom, Sysevich also works in the admissions department, interviewing students and aiding in the admissions process. She described her decision process. “So on one hand you may be getting all A’s, but if your folder doesn’t show your intellectual curiosity, your academic promise rating may not be a top rating.” 

Outside of school she spends her free time outdoors. “I love the ocean. When I can’t swim, I walk when the water is decent. I love swimming and I love the cold, actually.” 

Sysevich is the only Russian teacher on campus, and while the community may be small, her students adore her. “Mama loves to tell stories in class about all sorts of topics,” upper Abigail Sears said. “By doing so, she keeps the energy up in the classroom at all times, even during 8am classes when we all are very sleepy. She also loves to teach and it is quite apparent; She gets to know her students on a personal level and by doing so, creates a homelike environment.”

“I’d say she’s very engaging,” Sears continued. “Most teachers don’t want to know anything about your personal life. They want to focus on class, but Mama always asks how you’re doing and you talk to her about your life. So I think she is just very open with her lessons and other things that we do. For example, we write essays in the form of personal narratives a lot. She’ll ask a certain question, and we’ll tell a story from our lives. From that, she learns more about her students and their different experiences, which she wouldn’t be able to know just by looking at them.”

“For most of them, I see them through their whole career,” Sysevich said. “They come to my class every day because there’s only one Russian class; you grow with your group, you go further and further and further. The same is true for Japanese. We always have had good chemistry because everybody understands the group is going to stay the same in those eight weeks or ten weeks. It’s always going to be the same teacher. So it’s like a family; you’ve gotta get along.”

“She’s fun, joyful, and just loves people,” Sears reflected. 

Abbot Hall resident and senior Finn Tronnes praised Sysevich for her ability to make the classroom as friendly as possible. “The environment she creates is super welcoming, kind of like a family. There are only four students in my class, so we know each other really well, but Mama manages to make the class a fun and great time.” 

Upper Dea Yavich added, “She doesn’t just teach to provide information, but she teaches to help [her students] succeed, not just academically but socially. She is always there to support you in any way possible. She doesn’t treat her students as kids that are younger than her, but as fellow peers, like a friend. This is evident in the humor she always keeps in her relationships with her students.”

Sysevich teaches on the fourth floor of Phillips Hall, and while it’s a long walk up, once you’re there, it’s a tight-knit community. “Mr. Perez and Ms. Tazawa are my neighbors,” Sysevich said. “There were other teachers on that floor over the years, but we’ve always liked that floor. We frequently exchange jokes and we’ve known each other for many years now, and appreciate each other. I hear laughter from Mr. Perez’s classroom all the time and that type of thing, so we know each other’s teaching; we know each other’s personalities. Ms. Fair is there too. Ms. Fair is our French teacher, and she bakes heavenly desserts and we all get leftovers after the students have had a chance. Overall, I’d say we’ve got a good floor going there.”

Chair of the Department of Modern Languages Fermin Perez-Andreu felt similarly strongly about his relationship with Sysevich. “Our friendship (she is not only a colleague) goes back a long way, since the last millennium. So we could say that our friendship is ancient,” Perez-Andreu said. “One memory I have is hearing a knock on the door of my classroom, and immediately after, we would have a whole class of Russian students singing a Russian song for our Spanish class enthusiastically directed by the one and only Mama Inna.”

Sysevich is a treasured member of the Abbot dorm community, having been a part of it ever since she came to the Academy. Explaining her role in the dorm over the years, Sysevich said, “I was dorm head for 12 years, but I’m like a grandparent now because I was a dorm head after 12 years, and then I moved out.” These many years have instilled a strong connection between Sysevich and the boys’ dorm: “I’ve never been in another dorm. It was Abbot all the way.” 

“She cares for students like a mother,” shared Instructor in Science Tatiana Waterman, Sysevich’s friend of two decades. “She’d do anything to ease their trouble and celebrate their triumphs, big and small, from going to the pharmacy in the middle of the night for them, to bringing them their favorite food, to taking them for a walk around campus when they are sad and need someone to talk to, to making for them the most amazing blintzes. She is a really good cook!”

“It’s just her relaxed and calm nature,” prep Drona Gaddam added. “You can really talk about anything to Mama without hesitance or fear. She will always listen to you no matter what happens and give you the best piece of advice afterwards.”

“When you check in with Mama,” advisee and upper Cameron Khater joked, “it’s a contract to talk with her for at least 15 minutes because she loves to talk with every student. And I love it. It’s my favorite part of checking in.”

Tronnes echoed this sentiment, saying, “She encourages a lot of the Abbot traditions and that type of thing, like our winter party, for example. She’s also the one who goes out and buys all the food and does a lot of the preparation for us. Mama really cares about keeping the dorm traditions alive, which is amazing.”

“The way she talks to us when we’re down feels less condemning than like a friend expressing genuine care. It’s really shocking how well she can connect with and speak to students. She’s always been the straight-shooting, warm, and funny dorm faculty that everybody feels comfortable being around,” lower Ronald Qiao reflected.

Tronnes continued, “If you’re upset about something, or if you feel like something is a big deal for some reason, she’ll look at you and she’ll go, ‘Oh, it’s not a big deal!’ And you kind of need that sometimes: a reality check that really helps. You need it to understand that not everything is the end of the world.”

Khater also described Sysevich’s willingness to have conversations with students. “We always say, when I’m with my avid friends, ‘Oh, Mama’s on duty, let’s go talk to her!’ We know we can check in with her and we can talk a little bit and that she’ll always have a fun perspective. She lets us discuss whatever we want and she’ll chime in if she wants to, or she’ll stay back if we prefer her not to. It’s just a very welcoming environment. A lot of times, she’ll even bake us bread or take us for walks and go on McDonald’s runs.”

Sysevich herself further commented on how she tries to go about advising. “I take it personally with advisees, and I think it’s up to the students what kind of relationship they want with us. Some people need an advisor every day. For some, almost not at all. They should decide what they need their advisor for. I always at least offer, because I want them to feel like they can come to me with anything.”

“She always sees the best in people,” Tronnes reflected. “But she holds firm to her values when it matters. She always has a very strong sense of right and wrong. She holds people accountable for what they do, but she knows she can never be fully mad as the students are still maturing.”

Similarly, Waterman described Sysevich as “an optimist about human nature; she thinks everyone has a nugget of good in them, just temporarily obscured. And she doesn’t judge, anyone, ever!  There is not one judgmental molecule in her.” 

Sears agreed, saying, “She loves to teach and it is apparent. She gets to know her students on a personal level and by doing so creates a homelike environment. Mama’s impact on her community is truly special; what stands out to me is her genuine care for all students. Stepping into her classroom that I’ve sat in for the past three years, I feel a deep comfort. I know I’ll learn a lot, but it’s the blend of humor and a warm atmosphere that makes every class memorable.”

“If someone is going through a bad time, she knows how to get that person through it,” Khater shared. “She knows that we are all going through tough times and acknowledges that it’s all part of the journey. I think the biggest impact she has on her community is that she knows that she can’t control everything in a person’s life. But she can make someone’s day just a bit better, and I think that means a lot to all of us.”

Evidently, Sysevich is a beloved figure anywhere she is, whether it be in her classroom or the dorm. The genuine care and warmth she shows to everyone makes every experience with her a memorable and exciting one. Without a doubt, Sysevich, in her long tenure at Exeter, remains an admired and cherished faculty member, widely attributed for a love that knows no bounds.