Friday, September 13, 2024
AZLE — It’s soon to be another new school year, and a new sea of faces were present at the Azle ISD new teacher luncheon. The luncheon took place at the end of new teacher orientation and a day before convocation, July 31. Azle Optimist Club members and volunteers from Azle High School’s drama department served teachers in the school’s recently renovated cafeteria.
“It's always our favorite thing to do at the start of the school year,” Azle Optimist board member and administrative assist at the Azle Area Chamber of Commerce Jessica McKinney said. “To be able to serve them a good lunch and welcome them to our district lets them know who we are and how we help students so we kind of work hand-in-hand.”
McKinney noted building these connections are important for other Optimist Club activities like the annual penny race that happens around spring break.
Along with several free meals throughout the week, teachers who are new to the profession were each presented with a $250 Amazon gift card from the Azle Education Foundation to help with classroom decorations and supplies. The Azle Walmart and the Azle Area Chamber of Commerce also donated gift bags to the district for new professional employees.
Azle High School Principal Nate Driver said he was excited to welcome those at the luncheon and get to better know some of the incoming teachers at his school and in the district.
“We're just super pumped, ready for everybody to come back,” Driver said. “It's going to be a great year.”
Greenhorn and veteran teachers across a variety of subjects attended the luncheon. Lorena Sublasky joins Azle ISD as a bilingual fourth grade teacher at Eagle Heights Elementary. Eagle Heights is unique among Azle ISD schools in that nearly one third of the students are emergent bilinguals or speak English as a second language. Sublasky has been teaching for 27 years and is originally from El Paso. She has done everything from teaching elementary and high schools to developing curriculum. Sublasky said she is excited to help her students learn English while continuing to retain and improve on their Spanish skills as well.
“It's a satisfying experience because you do see such growth in a year,” Sublasky said. “It's amazing, and especially at the younger grades, it's so amazing. It's like, ‘oh, my god, they got it.’ It just, it evolves so quickly … I'm looking forward to meeting my students, getting to see what they what they're like, what they don't like, the music, what their parents are like, and that's really what I look forward to … I try to play on that during the year so that we can experience their culture, their lifestyle because in all homes, it's very different. But now when you're talking about people coming from different countries, that's very different. So, when I get to know all of that, then I try to embrace that and bring it into the classroom for everybody else. I know I'm going to have an awesome year so I'm really looking forward to it.”
Amanda Seymour and Kassidy Hightower are two more newbies to the district this school year. While Seymour is new to the city, Hightower is more than familiar with the district as a 2017 Azle High School graduate.
“So far, it's great,” Seymour said. “It's a little bit bigger than what I'm used to, but I'm excited. I've made some friends, so, we're on the right track. I'm going to be teaching sophomore English at Azle. I just moved from Decatur so I just kind of wanted to get to a different school district and grow my profession and kind of just learn more from a little bit bigger district and I'm excited to see what it has to offer. I grew up in Colorado and then I moved (to Texas) after college, to pursue education and just teach here.”
Hightower is returning to her alma mater to teach English to sophomores and freshmen. After attending Azle schools from kindergarten through 12th grade, Hightower attended Tarleton State University where she graduated in December 2023. She has previously worked as a substitute teacher at the high school and was a longterm substitute from January to May last year.
“So, I kind of have some experience here, which is really nice, but it's also kind of surreal that I am now working with some of the same teachers that I had as a student,” Hightower said. “We had awesome teachers here in Azle that inspired me to go into this profession. So, I'm excited to pay it forward and give back to the community that raised me. I just love Azle. It's my home. So, I want to help keep it great and make it better.”
Hightower listed Sarah Milosh, who she had in high school, and Keri Dorris, who she had in both junior high and high school, as two particularly influential teachers.
“They were both huge inspirations,” Hightower said. “And it was really great working with both of them last year in the English department. I look forward to working with Mr. Driver and the administration. Everyone's been super great and welcoming. I really love the community that they are trying to build.”
