Disclaimer: To any persons not included int this article who are also new to THS, we apologize for the omission. We make every attempt to provide complete coverage on every topic and have included all respondents to our all-call requests. 

Tuscarora welcomes 22 new staff members to our team this Fall. From teachers, to Instructional Assistants (IA) and Special Education Instructional Assistants (SEIA), we’ve all had to adjust to the changes that come with any new school year within these past couple of weeks. We spoke with six different teachers about where they were before Tuscarora, what they’re teaching us this year, and what they’re looking forward to. Check them out below!

We talked with Ms. Tornello, one of our new English teachers who was formerly in Loudoun County. She spent 9 years there. Now, Ms. Tornello is teaching English 11, English 11 Honors, and Film Study. Her focus is to “build relationships with all of [her] students” and inspire them to become stronger readers and writers.

Another member of our English Department is Ms. Biddle. Some of you may already know her if you went to Crestwood Middle School. Ms. Biddle now teaches English 10, but was part of our closeby community for 12 years. She’s looking forward to various literary discussions and meeting new students and teachers within Tuscarora.

Mr. Motter has a bit of a different story. He just recently graduated from Mount St. Mary’s in 2015 and pursued the English curriculum at Catoctin High School with a bit of a different approach. He began his teaching career as a coach and realized how much working with kids inspires him. Now, Mr. Motter teaches 10th grade English, both merit and honors, and 11th grade honors English. He says he loves the diversity Tuscarora has, and that he looks forward to reflecting after school every day, determining if he was able to change at least one student for the better.

Ms. Hayden is new to our building this year. Prior to being a part of our Science Department, she taught science to 7th and 8th graders at Governor Thomas Johnson Middle School for 17 years. Something Ms. Hayden especially looks forward to as our new Physics of Earth and Space Science teacher, is our Science Department. She thinks it’s awesome and can’t wait to be a part of it!

On the other hand, we have some new SEIA’s too. Ms. Fogle is a special education teacher from Frederick High School who now teaches Algebra 1A and 1B, as well as a math workshop. She looks forward to meeting lots of new people throughout the year.

Ms. Jorgenson is new (sort of) to THS. Ms. Jorgenson has been a long term sub here for several years now. This year she became an official member of our THS faculty. Her classes are primarily Foundations of Technology and she will lead the THS chapter of the FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America)

Last, but surely not least, Ms. Banovic is a new Government and AS2 teacher with us this year. Besides social studies, Ms. Banovic has also taught social sciences. She’s been from UMS, to MHS, and even Montgomery County. Not only does Ms. Banovic want to get used to her surroundings, but she wants to make positive impacts in the lives of her students and plans to do so.