The newest staff members are settling into the rigorous routine of North Forsyth’s hectic school year, and they are all enjoying meeting new people through their passions, but they do not get to know everyone. However, we do not have the opportunity to meet all of them personally.

Mr. Jake Castleberry is the newest world history teacher. He has been in Forsyth County his whole life, and he attended Coal Mountain Elementary, North Forsyth Middle School, and later North Forsyth High School. Mr. Castleberry graduated from North in 2001, the same year as Ms. McAllister, the new biology and earth systems teacher, did. Mr. Castleberry was influenced to become a teacher by his excellent experiences with the high school and college teachers that he had, and he is highly invested in his students and their success. “The worst thing is worrying about the students that aren’t performing academically. I’m always as anxious about testing as my students are. I think I probably worry more about how they’ll do on tests and quizzes than they do.” His desire to teach history comes from his fascination with understanding human history from different angles and answering questions about why things are the way that they are today. He is really involved with his congregation, but loves spending his free time with his wife and son.

Mr. Robert Kienle is another new face at North Forsyth. He is one of the newest teachers in the special education department, and specializes in the ESE or Exceptional Student Education portion of the special education department. He works with students who are exceptionally bright, despite their disabilities. Specifically, he works with the EBD students. EBD is the Emotional Behavior Disorder. Students with EBD usually have behavioral problems that interfere with their learning abilities. Mr. Kienle loves the challenges that he faces each day with the unique students in his class. While he loves his job, he dreads his commute; he drives 35 minutes each way to and from school. Outside of school, he golfs, hikes, and camps. He loves working with the teachers and students and looks forward to coaching. “I love being a Raider.  The kids are great, and the teachers are fun to work with.”

Ms. Shannon Marks joined the math department. She is one of the 10^th grade Analytic Geometry teachers this year. Her motivation for teaching the subject was her intrigue by the teenage mind and how it works and learns. Her love of math stems from her desire to have one, exact answer – one with no room for debate. She loves meeting and working with the staff and students. She is still getting used to the school, but is settling in well.

Mr. Don Hilton teaches Foundations of Engineering and Survey of Engineering Concepts. As an IT college graduate, he has always been good at hands-on work, but while he is skilled with machinery, he prefers to interact with people. One of his most embarrassing interactions with a student involved the day he got lost back to his classroom. “I was late for something and I was cutting around the school, to avoid traffic in the hallways. I ran into the building in a door I don’t normally use and had to ask one of my students which way was my classroom. He laughed and pointed me in the right direction.” Outside of school, he enjoys being outside playing sports or hiking.

Ms. Amy McGehee joined the math department this year. She is an enthusiastic football fan, loves helping others see the way to solve problems and above all loves teaching math. She loves North, but her favorite part is “all the breaks (and food)!” Her motivation for teaching math stems from a former college classmate. “I had a guy in my calculus class in college jokingly say, ‘Why are you in here? Girls don’t do math.’ I told him that I would check with him at the end of the semester to see how well we did in comparison. I did ‘do’ math very well and exceeded his scores. I taught at the college level for a while prior to coming to public school. I miss the college level, as students pay for their classes and are a little more motivated to complete them successfully.” She is adjusting to the schedule, but is facing some difficulty as she is a floater this year, meaning she has no official classroom.

The semester is almost over, and we are still getting to know our newest staff members, but by the end of the year, we should feel like the new teachers are old friends. Hopefully, we can keep meeting the new additions to North Forsyth, and maybe reintroduce some returning teachers.