The start of the school year brought a lot of new teachers to the faculty.  Some of them have come from different schools, and for some, this is their first year teaching a new curriculum.

“I loved my first semester,” Emily Faulkner said, who teaches AVID and geometry. “I love my students, the teachers I work with and the subjects that I teach.”

This is Faulkner’s first year of teaching math. She has worked with the AVID programs in LISD since 2008. She is a graduate of Cedar Park, and she’s taught there for two years. But she came to Vista Ridge for more opportunity to teach.

Faulkner said her first semester went very well, and there isn’t anything she would like to change.

“I love teaching, and I love my job here at the Ridge,” Faulkner said.

“She’s a good teacher,” sophomore Kayla Blakely said, one of her geometry students. “If you put effort in and if she sees you’re trying, she won’t fail you. She explains things and if it wasn’t for her, I’d be failing geometry.”

Another first time teacher last semester was Tracy Palmer who teaches math. Teaching Algebra I and Pre-AP Geometry, she loves her classes.

“I joke that it’s like teaching at a country club,” Palmer said. “I love that students are respectful and come to class well prepared.”

Palmer has been teaching for six years. Her previous teaching job was Algebra II at Hendrickson High School in Pflugerville. It was hard to connect with her students there.

“I live a few minutes away and my children go to school here,” Palmer said. “I hated that I knew more about the Hendrickson football players than I did about my freshman’s teammates last year.  Now after switching schools I am delighted to I know so many of my kids friends and I get to attend games [along with] my students much more frequently.”

Unlike last semester, Palmer has decided to change a few things. She realized that her grace period for late work wasn’t working out, and she has also gotten used to teaching overwhelmed first-year freshmen. Other than that, there have been few difficulties, and she loves her job.

“Wonderful school,” she said. “I hope I get invited back.”

But math and AVID are not the only classes with new teachers. Girls’ basketball also has a new coach—Pecos McDaniel. The girls’ really like him as a coach. Despite the changes that come along with a new coach, they’re still doing well this season and Coach McDaniel loves the teams.

McDaniel is a former AP at Leander High School. His last semester went very well, as the teams went undefeated! “I love the team—the girls are great,” McDaniel said. “I have high hopes for it.”

With the second semester coming on, it looks like the new teachers are ready for it.