With a new semester, there are two new faces joining the Lakeland High School staff. 

Both of the new teachers came to Lakeland to get some extra learning experience. 

One of the new staff members Ms. Bellamy Foley is settling into her new job at Lakeland as a testing center coordinator and a long-term sub. 

“I started working here because I would like to get some in-school experience. I want to work towards being a history teacher and also a Spanish teacher for high school because I really love teaching people.” 

Even though this semester is the start of Ms. Foley’s staffing career at Lakeland, she is not new to LHS. 

“I also graduated from Lakeland High School in 2011, and my mom is the art teacher here, so it felt like it would be a good fit for me to get some experience.” 

The other new staff member, Jessica McCardell is also excited to learn from Lakeland and grow as a teacher. 

“I’m student teaching at the same time as teaching math applications, so I figured this would be a good job to get my feet wet and learn a little more about teaching while at the same time I can finish my degree. I am teaching math apps classes, one class of algebra one, and student teaching with Mr. Jones’ science class.” 

Both of the new staff members who have had previous experience in education are excited to learn how to teach high school students. 

Ms. McCardell has had some experience with college students while in college. 

“In college, I was a student teacher and also a teacher assistant, so I have a lot more experience in teaching college-level students. High school is all new to me, it’s like a whole new ball game.” 

Ms. Foley has also had experience with preschoolers, which is a big change transitioning to high schoolers. 

“I was a preschool teacher for five years, so high school is definitely a change.” 

Ms. McCardell did not always expect to become a teacher. 

“In about my third year of college, I realized that I did not want to be in a lab all day. I was originally studying physics, but I realized I enjoyed my teaching assistant job more than being in a lab all day, so I decided to go with that which led me to teach education.” 

Ms. McCardell is adapting to Lakeland very well and is loving how welcome Lakeland has been. 

“I like how friendly everyone is here. Everyone helps each other out, they band together to get things done, which is very helpful. Sometimes I don’t know what I am doing so I appreciate that someone can step in and help me out.”

Ms. McCardell is excited about the experience she will learn while working at LHS and is excited for what it has in store for her. 

“I am looking forward to learning how to be a better teacher, it’s a challenge for me and I like challenges. I am excited to get to know the school and the students.”