The staff welcomed a new face this year with the arrival of AP and IB Psychology teacher Khaled Sankari. While this is his first year teaching at McNeil, Sankari is no stranger to the school.
“I live in the area, so I’m familiar with McNeil,” Sankari said. “I actually interned here when I was in college for a semester. I enjoyed it, but then I went out. I worked in Bastrop for nine years, and then I wanted to get closer. I saw there was an opening here, so here I am.”
Sankari says he first considered teaching after being influenced by the positive impact of his own teachers.
“Growing up, I’ve had a lot of great teachers that made a great impact on me,” he said. “When I was looking for a career, it was something like, ‘Hey, how about I try teaching?,’ because I really feel like I could make an impact there.”
Although psychology wasn’t his original plan, it quickly became his focus.
“It just kind of fell into my lap when I got my first job,” Sankari said. “I’ve been teaching it since.”
Sankari’s teaching style is centered on making students feel welcome while also encouraging them to connect class concepts to their lives.
“First and foremost, I think it’s really important that students feel like they’re welcome in the class and it’s a positive environment,” Sankari said. “I like to make students think a lot about reflecting and applying the concepts.”
One of his favorite projects is in the biology unit when students learn about the brain by creating an album.
“They pick a song for different brain parts and they explain the functioning and the connections,” Sankari said. “That’s always a fun one because I get to see the creativity behind the students and what they’re into music wise or whatnot.”
What excites him most about teaching at McNeil this year is the welcoming atmosphere.
“The environment, I really enjoy it here,” Sankari said. “Everybody’s super nice and very helpful. The students have been great. Also, I get to teach psychology all day and I’ve never done that before, so that’s really cool as well.”
After ten years in the classroom, Sankari is eager to start this new chapter at McNeil. His advice for students taking AP Psychology for the first time is simple: “Ask questions. Apply all the terms that we’re learning. The application is the biggest part.”
