Freshmen bustle around Dysfunction Junction, attempting to scout out their classrooms. However, dozens of adults also try to navigate their first day in a new school.
From biology to cheer, 31 new faces joined the faculty. Choir head director Colby Schulz is among the newcomers.
“This is my first time as a head director, and everyone has been so incredibly helpful in doing so,” Schulz said. “The parents, students, and staff are so crucial to my success and I would not want to be doing it with anyone else.”
Schulz began his musical journey as a band student and started singing in his high school years. His love for choir encouraged him to teach the subject.
“I think it is such a wonderful experience to make music with your peers, and especially when it is in choir,” Schulz said. “The unity and bonds that are created are second to none.”
The choir classes participated in a bingo activity at the beginning of the year, with the goal of getting to know their classmates and teachers. The students walked around the room and asked people about certain traits, marking their names on the board in a game of bingo.
“I would describe him as fun,” sophomore Sanjana Nayak, a member of the a capella choir, said. “Our class periods are always filled with him making jokes. Even when we’re singing or sight reading, he finds a way to make it more interesting.”
World history teacher Faith Sizemore’s classes also played Four Corners in the first week as an icebreaker. Debating topics like “is cereal a soup,” and “is a hotdog a sandwich,” the students practiced argumentation skills.
“I pursued my degree in history because I had an amazing teacher in high school who showed me that history is more than just names and dates,” Sizemore said, “it is a discipline that encourages students to think deeply and critically, helps them navigate the present, and builds their empathy for the experiences of others.”
As a first-year teacher, Sizemore also coaches robotics and looks forward to seeing the athletics program perform. Sizemore’s class is decorated with two banners that say “knowledge is power” and “effort creates ability.”
“I tell students often that it’s okay to be wrong, but it’s not okay to not try,” Sizemore said. “It takes patience, but mistakes are how we learn.”
Across the school, Madison Zamora teaches Aerospace Design, Digital Electronics, and Money Matters in Room 1708. She also works with the robotics team Valor 6800.
“I love teaching engineering courses because I am always impressed with the creative solutions that students develop,” Zamora said, “and I love watching a student’s ‘aha’ moment when a solution starts coming together.”
The Aerospace Design I class is made up of 10th-12th graders. The students held an in-class discussion about what they expect of Zamora for this school year.
“I appreciate that Ms. Zamora is captivating with her lectures so everyone’s not bored,” junior Lorenzo Covino said. “I hope to gain plane buildings skills I can use to make fun models I could actually mess around with and fly.”
As both teachers and students head into the second full week of school, grades begin entering Home Access Center.
“I think it’s easy sometimes to get discouraged from school when it feels like there’s too much homework or you’re stressed over test scores, but I believe education is a lifelong process that equips us with ways of thinking and approaches to problem-solving,” Sizemore said. “It is not an opportunity to take for granted.”
