Welcoming Mr. Unger: Grace’s New Teacher Making an Impact
Media provided by Alejandro Izurieta ’25
If you somehow haven’t seen or met Grace’s friendliest new face walking around the building yet, let it be known that he is not just a smile and wave, but a profound and authentic person named Tomas Unger.
If you have somehow missed him, he was probably in his office space or teaching his literature classes on the third floor. Unfortunately, we are only graced with one year of his wisdom and wholesomeness at Grace. He plans to go on to new horizons, so we need to enjoy and appreciate his presence as much as possible while we still have it.
This article is not just uncovering the mystery behind the man who can bring peace to a classroom full of attention-lacking students, but the motivation behind a friendly teacher, who might just be the groundbreaking new hit celebrity at the 46 campus.
Coming from just up north in Cambridge Massachusetts, Mr. Unger’s relationship with academics started in his youth. He grew up in a very “academic-based town,” with two loving parents who were both professors.
As a child, he always gravitated toward reading and studying literature, particularly poetry, which naturally led to him majoring in English. “The thing about poetry which fascinated me the most” he says, “is how no poem is ever really finished.” After receiving his Master of Fine Arts in Poetry at Yale University, he moved to New York City where he could be surrounded by his other creative passions besides literature, such as photography and film. Throughout his time in New York, he has published many poems and essays, and has a book coming out in 2026.
After freelancing as a tutor, Mr. Unger felt it was time to get back into the classroom. After spending time expanding and exploring what he loves to do, teaching was the ultimate vehicle for him to put what he has gained back out into the world.
“Teaching offers you a chance to share your own loves,” he said, which is a true and honest reflection of the kind of teacher he is: someone who is filled with care for his students and passion for the material he is teaching. This endearing and inspiring perspective led him to find Grace, where the particular culture here caught his eye. He found Grace to be a “gentle place… one of true creativity and where students are nourished,”
Even though Mr. Unger is only beginning his second semester of his first year at the school, he can say that the thing he has loved most has been “getting to know the students … who help create environments where we can learn about each other.”
To Mr. Unger, that is his pedagogy:learning and doing it together. He believes in the tremendous value of his students and what they bring to the table, and encourages each and every one to express themselves and allow each other to learn from one another. Together, through discussion-based learning, he and his students create a nurturing environment that is “exceptionally witty and filled with positivity and excitement,” according to one student, Gabe Z. ‘26.
While Mr. Unger is just filling in for Emily Kuntz this year, his impact is sure to last a time beyond however long he stays at Grace. When you have a teacher as committed and authentic as he is, you can almost feel their presence permeating the school, through the positivity and enthusiasm spread by his students.
He even has answers to student questions at Grace outside of his class. Many students around Grace have been asking a question that has been traveling around our school: “What is poetry?” Mr. Unger’s thoughtful answer is the following: “I guess a working definition might be: that rare kind of literature you can know ‘by heart,’ equal parts feeling and thought—someone else’s illumination becomes, whether in the reading or remembering, your own.”
What can be learned from Mr. Unger, even if you aren’t in one of his literature classes, is that literature is a “medium to bring together different perspectives [and] ideas, and engage younger, curious minds,” something he preaches and lives by.
No matter who gets to experience the privilege of being under his tutelage, one certain thing is that they will see literature as a shared enterprise.
Wesley Tyson ‘26, the author, is a staff writer for The Grace Gazette.