The bell rang and the halls flooded with laughter of students and staff. The school  buzzed with a sense of community, and this year brought forth new additions to the Mav family.

“Honestly, it was my number one choice,” Marcia Arcuri, a new math teacher, said. “I was honored to be chosen to work at McNeil.”
The 2016-17 school year welcomed 37 teachers. Among these new teachers are Beth Williams, an assistant choir director, Marcia Arcuri, a new geometry teacher, and returning faculty member Sara Perez, who now teaches chemistry. All of these teachers share a common goal: to educate young minds and enhance the love of learning that is abundant in all of the students they teach, and the future generations to come.

“I think I will have a huge impact on the choir program. There is a lot for these students to learn and they’re eager to soak it all in,” Williams said. “I have a wealth of knowledge to give and inspire them to be brave and take chances with their music.”

Music, math, science, language arts, and other subjects are what unite us as individuals and as a society. Teachers are willing to provide that vast knowledge of the world to the students of this school.

“I found that McNeil is a very balanced school that places personal growth as high as academic success,” Perez said. “I wouldn’t want to teach at a school that put too much importance in only one aspect of student life.”

The common goal of a teacher is to not only provide lessons in the classroom, but to implement lessons in the real world, something that can lead to success in everyday life. Ironically, although students are taught to follow their passions, sometimes they are acquired.

“I teach Chemistry now, and as a student it was my most challenging science, but probably not my favorite,” Perez said. “From the perspective of a teacher, it is my favorite now.”