At the start of the second semester, from foreign language to English, this year welcomes four new teachers who joined the teaching staff at SHS. Each of these new teachers brings new talents to the school, as well as having a common goal together, to welcome and get to know students. They might come from different backgrounds but they all hold hopes for their new position.
English Teacher Regan Poole
Q: How would you introduce yourself to students?
A: I’m a teacher who loves reading and learning and hoping to show students who might not think that they’re capable of doing that that they can too, so they can find the same love for things like that as well.
Q: What is your goal as a teacher?
A: I think my goal as a teacher is to create critical thinkers and people that enjoy learning about information.
Q: Why do you teach?
A: It all started because I grew up with my grandparents, and they were both principals. So I grew up around schools my whole life. And as I got older and started to figure out what I wanted to do, teaching seemed like the only thing that I actually wanted to do every day. I wanted to do something that mattered to me, and I thought that helped my community.
Q: When did you know that you wanted to be a teacher?
A: I think it’s something that’s been around my whole life. But when I officially made the decision, it was because I was helping tutor some of my frien
ds freshman year in college, writing-wise, and I was able to help them a lot to the point where they got more … independent by the end of the semester. I grew up with one of my grandparents that always told me not to be a teacher, so I think I always wanted to, but that was kind of the final push to what I want to do.
Q: What do you want to have achieved in 10 years?
A: I don’t know if there’s like a specific accomplishment I want to achieve, but I want to feel like what I have put out into the world is genuine and authentic and like the best that I can give them. So I guess I’m more trying to achieve a feeling of fulfillment after 10 years of knowing that what I put out was good and … thoughtful.
Art teacher Ni Thluai
Q: How would you introduce yourself to students?
A: I would say that I’m very understanding and kind. I do try my best to encourage students and help them one-on-one if they’re struggling, and I always try to embrace that mistake is a part of learning. It’s part of growth.
Q: What is your goal as a teacher?
A: My goal as a teacher is to make sure that every student succeeds and feels included in the classroom.
Q: Why do you teach?
A: I want to be able to make a change in someone’s life, make people appreciate art more.
Q: When did you know that you wanted to be a teacher?
A: Actually, in high school because of all my other high school art teachers. I was very much inspired by them.
Q: What do you want to have achieved in 10 years?
A: To have (an) impact on students positively, to have them say that “I learned something from high school” and that “I felt included in the classroom.”
Social studies teacher David Stephens
Q: How would you introduce yourself to students?
A: My name is Mr. Stevens. I’m your new (social studies) teacher. And because I came in the middle of the semester, I like to compare. I let them know that I know their past teacher, Mr. Armbruster, is still in the building if they need him and that I’m learning from him. So I’m going to try to make their experience as smooth of a transition as I can.
Q: What is your goal as a teacher?
A: I want to use geography and world history to help students not only learn, but become better people by the end of the year with me.
Q: Why do you teach?
A: I like to teach because I get to talk about the things I’m interested in, and I get to share them with students to help them discover their own interests. Even if their interest isn’t geography or world history, I want to create a space where they can fuse their interest into what we’re talking about. I love hearing people talk about the things that they’re interested in. I love talking about what I’m interested in, so it’s the perfect situation to do that.
Q: When did you know that you wanted to be a teacher?
A: Honestly, probably my third year of undergrad. I was switching to geography, and I was looking into what I could do with a geography degree, and teaching was the only thing that stood out to me.
Q: What do you want to have achieved in 10 years?
A: I don’t really know. I think right now, I’m not thinking of 10 years from now. I’m thinking of what I can do best right now. I have no idea where I would see myself in 10 years. I don’t know if I would be a homeowner, if I would have 100 cats or if I would, I don’t know. I have no idea.
French teacher Corinne Hawkins
Q: How would you introduce yourself to students?
A: I’m a new French teacher. I’m also a new teacher. I just graduated from the University of Southern Indiana. With my degree in French education, I studied abroad in France and Aix-en-Provence in the South and in the spring of 2023. It was the most incredible experience of my life. I’m so passionate about study(ing) abroad and want to encourage all students to do it and travel. If not to France, (then) to somewhere (else).
Q: What is your goal as a teacher?
A: My goal is not only to speak and teach language but to really inspire a journey of language that continues beyond my class and beyond high school. I really hope that students continue to learn a language because it’s such a long process that they go (through) and they travel and they immerse themselves and don’t only use the language inside the classroom.
Q: Why do you teach?
A: I became a teacher because I really struggled in French and I almost failed…It was really difficult for me those first few years, and I feel as if I’m on the other side of staying patient and persistent with my own language-learning journey. And I wanted to share that and provide that safe space for students to fail and to know that it’s okay and that it’s a part of the process.
Q: When did you know that you wanted to be a teacher?
A: I actually went to university my first year to study politics and international relations, and I ended up transferring and switching to education, and I was so happy I did it. When I ended up in the education program, it just felt like such a nice fit, and I never doubted my choice of career.
Q: What do you want to have achieved in 10 years?
A: 10 years, I think my biggest goal … is to have heard from students that they have gone out into the world and have just experienced the joy of travel, the joy of language, whether that they’ve just used it with a college, in a job or if they’ve been on and lived in France, or in another francophone country anywhere in the world.