Delaney McDonald and Chloe Harris, Staff Writers Mr. Arrington is all the buzz around middle school. He has been assisting Mrs. Henderson as a student teacher, and he's doing a fabulous job. Starting next year, he will be the official math teacher for sixth grade. The students are sad to see Mrs. Henderson leave, but the rising middle schoolers will love Mr. Arrington’s enthusiasm for teaching. Mr. Arrington is a student teacher here at NCS. Before coming to the middle school hallway, he helped Mr. Shoaf teach his Algebra II/Trig and Honors Precalculus classes. Mr. Arrington was born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia. He attended Norfolk Christian from Kindergarten through twelfth grade, which made him one of the “senior survivors”. Then, he went to college at Liberty University, a Christian liberal arts institution. During his childhood, he had dreams of becoming a chemist, an engineer, and even a drumming pastor! Photos by Lily Strickland; Students can count on Mr. Arrington to answer any questions that they may have. While discussing his job aspirations, Mr. Arrington concluded: “I decided to be a teacher because of a class at Norfolk Christian called Life Calling. That class had me assess my giftings and interests, and I realized that working with youth and helping the next generation was something I am called to do. So I decided to teach.” Mr. Arrington describes himself as solemn and reserved, but when he opens up to his classes, he’s joyful and witty. His favorite verse is 1 John 3:1-3 because, according to him, “it paints a great picture of the grandeur and vastness of God's love and how we have the privilege to be His children. He is our eternal Father and I find great solace in that.” Mr. Arrington’s insight and close relationship with God will undoubtedly inspire his future students. If you ever see Mr. Arrington in the hallway, be sure to give him a warm welcome into the school’s faculty.
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Natalie Duckworth, Staff Writer Mrs. Kelly may be relatively new to Norfolk Christian, given that it is only her second year here, but the school’s Honors 10 English and AP Literature teacher has quickly become one of the most beloved members of the staff. Mrs. Kelly was born into an Italian family with a Catholic mother and Lutheran father. She began her journey as a Christian when she was baptized as a baby at only one month old. She says that her family values their faith and connection to the church. She went to a Christian school for elementary through high school. Similarly, her husband worked as an altar server and spent his summers helping to clean the church when he was young. Mrs. Kelly grew up in Northern Virginia but then moved to the Hampton Roads area because she has a lot of family here. Photo by Lily Strickland; There's a bulletin board of literary memes behind Mrs. Kelly's desk, appropriately titled "To Meme or Not to Meme?" When asked about her time in high school, Mrs. Kelly expressed that unlike other students, she loved high school. In fact, she met all of her closest friends in high school. She played varsity basketball and softball, but after a shoulder injury, she decided to turn her interests toward the drama department. She studied theater and English while attending Mary Washington College. She spoke about her personality during that period of her life: “I’ve never been a rule follower. My nickname was ‘riot girl.’ My facade was that I was a feminist, punk rock girl, arguing with teachers about things. Everyone has their little facade in high school.” Mrs. Kelly decided to pursue teaching English due to her love for studying literature, listening to other people’s stories, and telling her own. She describes language as being an “art of words” and says that, “I feel like I cannot draw, I can’t really dance, I can sing, but writing is my kind of art.” Mrs. Kelly also shared that she wants to transform the mindset of people who may have little interest in reading or writing. She hopes that her students can share their stories through creative writing such as poetry. Mrs. Kelly previously taught at Ocean Lakes in Virginia Beach and later moved to Christ the King, a Catholic School located in Norfolk. After driving past Norfolk Christian, she thought about how she wished she could teach closer to home. Her kids attended the Tab Church daycare, and Mrs. Pasini, the director of the daycare, encouraged Mrs. Kelly to teach at Norfolk Christian. She described her transition to NCS: “The pandemic made me move schools, and everyone came over. It was perfect, the perfect fit. It was God’s divine providence. Everything just sort of fell into place.” While she loves her current job as a teacher, Mrs. Kelly thinks that being a midwife would be an interesting career as well. Everyone in her family is a part of the medical profession, other than herself and her sister. She even had a friend try once to get her to become a doula! She also thinks that a job that specializes in holistic or wellness practices would be fun to have, such as an esthetician. Photo by Lily Strickland; Due to her study of theater in college, Mrs. Kelly is very knowledgeable about the Shakespeare plays that she teaches. You can definitely catch her performing some of the monologues with true Shakespearean passion! Mrs. Kelly also narrated some of her most interesting experiences as a teacher, including the time that she lost a Saudi Princess during a field trip at the Washington DC Spy Museum. She realized that she was missing someone after taking a count of her students. One of her students exclaimed that the Saudi Princess had gone shopping across the street! Mrs. Kelly frantically ran across the street in traffic and thought she was going to be on the news because she lost a princess. Once she found her, the princess nonchalantly said, “Oh, I thought we were done.”
In addition to sharing so many interesting stories, she reflected on her favorite book to teach: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. What she finds the most interesting is the way that Hurston was able to preserve her stories and life as a black woman during the Jim Crow era. She also enjoys Hurston’s beautiful writing, which blends prose narration and southern dialect. Hurston recounts slave narratives and songs in her book. Mrs. Kelly describes the tone of the book: “It has some intense parts, but it is not depressing. Sad things happen, but it doesn’t make you depressed after.” Not only does Mrs. Kelly love to teach Their Eyes Were Watching God, it is also one of her favorite books to read, as well as The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. Overall, she has enjoyed her time at NCS, expressing that she loves the community here, especially her fellow teachers. Chloe Harris, Staff Writer Mrs. Harris taught seventh grade English for three and a half years before teaching eleventh and twelfth graders in economics, personal finance, government, and AP government. Her bubbly personality ensures that the class is always filled with games and laughter. Mrs. Harris grew up in Portland, Oregon, receiving an education at Western Oregon University and George Washington University Law School. She worked as a lawyer for twenty years and then started teaching at NCS in 2018. When Mrs. Harris was a lawyer, she represented big banks, but after working for a firm for two decades, she grew tired of sitting in a cubicle and going to court. In other words, she felt burnt out, like she was just practicing law for the money, not because she actually enjoyed it. Fortunately, she found the perfect job to use her abilities: teaching! As a teacher, Mrs. Harris uses her skills in persuasive speaking in the classroom. She’s also accustomed to viewing things from different angles, just like how she would in the courtroom. She says that teaching is a lot more fun and a better fit for her audacious personality. Mrs. Harris loves teaching because the classroom is filled with various ideas and opinions; every day is different. Most upper school students are aware that Mrs. Harris recently made a significant switch from teaching 7th grade to 10-12 grade. She loved the lively, bold personalities in middle school, but she's glad she doesn't have to deal with as many students singing Disney songs and poking each other with pencils! Whenever a seventh grader sees her in the halls, they say that they miss her lessons and cheerful personality. Photo by Lily Strickland; Eighth grader Charlotte Walz and freshman Madeline Martinez flash their smiles with Mrs. Harris during study hall. Besides her impact at Norfolk Christian, Mrs. Harris enjoys spending time with her family and watching TV at home. After watching the most recent season of The Amazing Race, she was inspired by the winners of the season, Penn and Kim. She commented: “my husband and I would make a fierce Amazing Race team--we have complementary skills. He's a CPA, a detailed guy, so he'd be the one thinking three steps ahead, making sure we didn't lose things along the way, and tackling challenges that required any sort of athletic ability. I'd be stopping strangers on the street for help and taking on any tasks involving animals, crafts, or embarrassing costumes.”
Another fun fact about Mrs. Harris is that she would love to own an otter as an exotic pet, but sadly they are only legal in Missouri, North Carolina, Florida, and Nebraska. She likes otters because of their squeaking sounds and adventurous nature. Evidently, Mrs. Harris has a spontaneous side as well. She switched to teaching after a successful law career, and, as a result, she has enriched the lives of various NCS students! Mrs. Harris is very thankful that God opened her eyes to a job where she would get to harness her personality and engage with students of all ages. Delaney McDonald, Staff Writer Mrs. Henderson is new to NSC and teaches middle school math. Within her classroom, she creates such a fun learning environment to keep students engaged. Students love her joyful greetings, stories, and constant laughter in her classroom. She grew up locally in Virginia Beach and attended the University of Virginia. Then, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in religious studies and a Masters of Teaching in elementary education. She also has an endorsement in middle school math, which she’s putting to good use at NCS. Photo by Lily Strickland; A fun fact about Mrs. Henderson is that her favorite foods are chicken and rice, as well as chicken alfredo. As a child, Mrs. Henderson dreamed of being a figure skater, such as the ones performing at this year’s Winter Olympics. However, God had a different plan for her. Before becoming a teacher at Norfolk Christian, she was a stay-at-home mom for ten years and homeschooled her four children. Mrs. Henderson wanted to become a teacher because she loves “math and middle schoolers…a love that came from God Himself!” She also said that her eighth grade algebra teacher inspired her to become a classroom teacher. What Mrs. Henderson loves most about being an NCS teacher in the tight-knit community. She remarks: ”My faith guides me to trust God and point my students to Him, and to pray and seek him as I teach. I’m not doing this on my own!” Lastly, her favorite bible verse is Lamentations 3:22-23: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” WELCOME TO NCS, WE ARE SO GRATEFUL FOR YOU! Photo by Lily Strickland; Mrs. Henderson's students enjoy her fun assignments, such as drawing a potato to represent themselves.
Natalie Duckworth, Staff Writer You may have already heard of Norfolk Christian’s resident Latin teacher, Mrs. Marsh, whether it be walking by her classroom in the hallway and overhearing her mythology lessons, affectionately called “scripta,” or taking her class yourself. If you have not met Mrs. Marsh, she has been a teacher at Norfolk Christian for the past few years and teaches Latin I through Latin IV/V. For those who have taken part in her classes, she is a memorable person to say the least. In a recent interview, she spoke about NCS, her profession, and a few facts about her life. Mrs. Marsh originally taught in the public school system, but shared that there were many aspects that drew her to Norfolk Christian and continue to be some of the most important parts of her job: “I really like the atmosphere. I really like my colleagues and my students. I really like being able to speak freely about Christianity, both academically and spiritually. This is also a nice work environment.” Not only does she get along well with her colleagues, she considers quite a few of them her friends, including her life-long friend Mrs. Jenkins, whose room is just across the hall: “Mrs. Jenkins is one of my friends. I’ve known her for a long time. Actually, her mother used to drive me to swim lessons!” Photo by Lily Rhodes; Mrs. Marsh ponders why she became a Latin teacher. She also shared what she was like in high school and candidly stated: “I was neither a good student nor a bad student. I was disinterested in things that didn’t interest me. I wasn’t the kind of person to join things. I didn’t play sports, because then I would be joining something.” For Mrs. Marsh, both Latin and teaching were never what she intended to do. While in high school, her mother made her take Latin instead of another study hall, even though it was a class that she had shown little to no interest in. At that point, she had already taken Spanish and French, which are both branches of the Latin language. Her French teacher told her that French IV would be the “end of the road” due to her lack of work ethic in that class. Despite her hesitance in high school, Mrs. Marsh’s current knowledge of Latin is impressive. Even more, it sometimes shows up in her dreams. In her interview, she said, “last night I had a dream in Latin, as a matter of fact. It wasn’t like the whole dream was Latin, but there was some Latin in the dream. This was one of the signs to myself that I knew the language. When Latin started appearing in my dreams, I realized the language was stored in my subconscious mind.” Photo by Lily Rhodes; Mrs. Marsh's infectious energy allows her to better engage with her students while teaching a difficult subject One of her college professors helped her figure out how Latin could become a part of her life: “My Latin professor at Radford wanted me to figure out what to do when I graduated. I had no master plan. I was not interested in teaching at first. I decided to give it a try, and I ended up really liking it!” Since then, she has not looked back. She explained that teaching has its ups and downs, but she realizes that it is an essential part of her job. According to Mrs. March, “the energy of young people is the most satisfying part of the job. No one has to be perfect. Kids misbehave, and that’s fine. That’s the nature of the beast, and you can’t take it personally. The good of the job outweighs the bad. The energy of the youth is something that I would miss.”
Even though she loves teaching, Mrs. Marsh expressed that she would go to divinity school if she could have any other job. Divinity school, also called seminary, is where people study scripture and learn about theology in preparation to serve in a ministry. She explained, “I don’t want to be an Episcopal priest or anything, mostly because I don’t want to have to advise someone else’s spiritual life. Divinity school would be cool though.” Alternatively, she would circle back to teaching but as a college professor. Above all, Norfolk Christian should be very grateful for Mrs. Marsh’s expertise and passion for Latin. |