The homework, the lectures, the rush of graduation: teachers are usually the guides, the instructors and the supporters as their students work their way through the year’s curriculum.
Some, however, have coursework of their own. From 7:20 until 2:10, these teachers may be instructing freshmen through seniors, but afterschool, on weekends or in the summer, they are taking graduate classes of their own, and pursuing advanced degrees.
ESOL is “a profound class that teaches a lot of new and sophisticated material,” freshman Isabella Ariza stated.
When Ariza first came to the U.S. from Colombia, she was dissapointed for being placed in English for Speakers of Other Languages classes.
However, Ariza gives great credit to ESOL for developing her skills in English and allowing her to pursue a more rigorous academic lifestyle.
She stated that she is now part of more mainstream classes such as Biology Honors and English 9 thanks to the progress she made in ESOL English classes.
Marketing teacher and DECA adviser Jen Hendrickson received an Outstanding Virginia DECA Advisor award on March tenth at this year’s Virginia DECA State Leadership Conference, making it the third time she has received this award in her career.
“To be the only one from Fairfax County really surprises me because I work with a ton of other advisers who are awesome,” Hendrickson said.
These awards are based on a point system where advisers can earn points based on their participation in events at the local, district and state levels.
“Even though I didn’t know you, I always saw you as the kid who never stopped smiling.”
As students filled out notes in the cafeteria last week memorializing freshman Sam Solomon, they remembered a classmate who, despite his two-and-a-half year battle with leukemia, did not want to be defined by his disease.
Instead, friends, family and teachers will remember him as an excellent student, an avid reader and someone whose positive demeanor was acknowledged throughout the Marshall community, both by students who knew him and those who merely passed him in the hallways.
From Tanzania to Thailand, foreign students come to the U.S. to experience American culture and an American education.
Sophomore Nathita Limprasittiporn came from Thailand to gain exposure to different cultures.
“When you first come here you don’t know anyone and you kind of adjust yourself to the new culture and society,” Limprasittiporn said.
Limprasittiporn enjoys in participating in activities that are not found in Thailand.
Vice president of Dating Abuse Stops Here Wendy Claunch and Red Flag Campaign representative Heather Sarmiento led a presentation for seniors last Tuesday to raise awareness about the warning signs and effects of dating abuse.
“I thought any opportunity to talk about healthy relationships would be great,” director of student services, Cindy Blakeley said.
“Real life stories are a lot more moving and make more of an impression.”
Claunch led an information session about the warning signs of an abusive relationship and the lethal warning signs.
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Directing instructions to the driver of the tractor trailer pulling cement and bricks near the back entrance of the school, Dilip Sheth navigated through the rubble and demolition with an air of familiarity.
Sheth, whose job is to oversee the construction and assure FCPS that the process is going within the allotted time and budget, said that this familiarity was hard-earned.
Alumnus Matt Martz had, in 2008, created the Student Symphonic Orchestra of Fairfax that was made up of only Marshall students; now it has students from more than 15 different schools.
The Student Symphonic Orchestra of Fairfax is beginning its fourth performance season and the program’s season opener performance, free, is on Mar. 24 at the Redeemer Lutheran Church.
Through each performance, Martz has enjoyed watching the gradual improvements with the music.
“If you ask any of my students if I’m weird, they might say yes.” Correcting himself, English teacher Jason Tamborini said, “They will say yes.”
Tamborini, a new teacher this school year, recently moved from Massachusetts, where he taught special education after earning a master’s degree from Emerson College.
“I just felt like I needed a change of venue,” he said. “It was time to do something different.”
Here, Tamborini is involved with theatre, and he helps “build sets [and works] with some of the students.”
It is sprawled on the bathroom stalls in sharpie and on the tops of desks in pencil. It covers everything it touches — roads and bridges and garage doors. Sprayed by artistic teenagers or painted by gangs to claim territory, it can be found from downtown DC to rural Great Falls.
“It’s a misdemeanor to do graffiti,” school resource officer Tom Harrington explained. “You can be charged with the removal of it, and that can go into the thousands of dollars, depending upon … how big it is.”
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