Mrs. Carrie McCabe is the new French teacher at Dowling Catholic this year! While she’s lived and worked all over the globe, she calls Iowa home. Mrs. McCabe graduated from East High School and attended the University of Iowa. She has two masters degrees, one in education and one in French. She comes to Dowling from Pella public schools but she has taught all over the world.

Since 2003, Mrs. McCabe has been teaching a variety of subjects in a variety of countries. From public education in France to private education in Istanbul, mostly English as a second language, Mrs. McCabe has seen it all. But family brought her back to Iowa, and started her career.

“I became a teacher on accident,” says McCabe. “My mom, in high school, would always say: ‘you should be a French teacher!’ and I’d be like ‘no.’” But after a happy string of accidents in college, involving: taking French to satisfy The University of Iowa’s graduation requirement, studying abroad in France to earn credit hours, and only needing a few extra classes to earn a French major, Mrs. McCabe was able to go to France to teach English. This is where her passion was ignited. 

After teaching in France, she came back to the states and completed her masters degree in education. She continued to teach abroad, teaching in China, France, Türkiye, “and now I’m here.”

Mrs. McCabe  is excited to come into new challenges and opportunities. Namely, having a colleague and being able to improve herself and the French program at Dowling Catholic. “I’m looking forward to, yeah, growing.”