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Yasmin Acosta-Myers Mark Reynolds

New teachers arrive at HRV
By Wendy Reyes, Talon staff reporter

This year there have been many changes at Hood River Valley High. One of them is that we have many new staff members. In total there are 21 staff members that are new this year. For this week I am going to introduce three staff members and next week I will introduce three more and so on.

One of the new teachers is art teacher Yasmin Myers. Before working as a substitute and tutor here at HRVHS, she worked in a Dillon, Montana school in the ELL department, grades k-8. She said she was excited and a little nervous about the new school year here: “I am very excited and a little nervous about the new school year because of all the different projects and activities that can be done. I am a little nervous, this being my first teaching job!” She says she also likes the diversity in school staff and students. She says everyone is respectful of each others differences. If Myers wouldn’t have gone into teaching, she has no idea what she would have been. But she likes learning and teaching and she thinks that as a teacher you never stop learning.

The next teacher is ELL teacher Mark Reynolds. He used to live in The Dalles, where he lived for 10 years. He worked at Cascade Locks High School as a Language Arts teacher from grades 8-12. Reynolds wasn’t that nervous about the new school year like other teachers because this wasn’t his first year teaching. But he says every year is a new start. When asked if he likes it at HRV and if it is different from the school he taught at before he said, “I do. There is a lot of pride here and there are excellent staff and students. It’s so different it’s hard to compare.” But he said it was pretty much what he expected.

The last teacher is the Child Development teacher Barb Hughes. Before teaching here, Hughes taught at Wy’east Middle School. She taught almost every subject at one time or another and taught different grades. The last two years she only taught 6th grade. Hughes really likes the kids, some she’s known since they were 11 years old! She says it has been especially fun to see them again, all grown up. She is a bit overwhelmed with all the new names she has to learn. When asked what she likes about HRVHS and this is what she said, “Definitely the students, but I have enjoyed meeting the school staff. Everyone has been so helpful.” She was excited and nervous about the new school year and excited to see her old students:“everyone is taller than me now!”