For so many teachers, McNeil is their home away from home. Educators Lawrence Alexander, Laura Falli, and Denise Duchesneau have previously left the school, but returned this year.

“ I was a freshman coach two years ago when I was here, and I got the opportunity to be a varsity assistant which is a step above being a freshman coach,” Boys Basketball and Girls Volleyball Coach Lawrence Alexander said. “So I wasn’t necessarily ready to leave but it was an opportunity and I took it.” 

Some may want to seize the moment and take every opportunity they are given but they may not always be fruitful.

“Sometimes you think the grass is greener on the other side and it’s actually green where you water it,” Alexander said. “It was already green here, and there were definitely responsibilities I had there that made me miss being at McNeil.”

Many don’t just value what they missed or the community but it’s also about the kids they taught. 

 “A lot of the students I have now I had when they were sophomores, which is really cool because now I teach seniors,” Alexander said. “I just want my seniors to be prepared for adulthood because it’s much different from high school.”

The adults here value what they do for kids inside and outside of the classroom. 

“This school has always been and continues to be a school where people bend over backward to help the kids,” Librarian Laura Falli said. “I didn’t want to work anywhere but McNeil.”

This campus has more to offer here than what meets the eye. Some returned for different reasons but a main constant will always be the Mav community.

“I felt like I had invested enough time here, I made really good relationships with the administration, with the teachers, and so many of them I can call my friends,” Provider of Dyslexia Instruction Denise Duchesneau said. “I felt like this was my home. It’s hard to give up your seat, your room, everything you had established along with my friends and the students.”