The 2024-2025 school year brings not only new students but plenty of new staff as well. There are 11 new teachers, varying from English to physical education. They all vary in their experience but have high hopes and many goals for their time at HHS.
The department with the most additions is the special education department, one of them being Mr. Mcmeen, who has quickly grown to enjoy working with his fellow teachers and staff. Mr. Mcmeen previously worked at Benton High School for three years. For this year he hopes to see all his students do well in their classes and grow an interest in learning more both inside and outside the classroom. Mr. Mcmeen’s motivation for teaching is to “be who you needed when you were younger.”
Another brand-new addition to the Special Education department, Mr. Williams enjoys how welcoming all the staff and students are to the new teachers. Mr. Williams has some prior teaching experience at Tri-County, where he worked for seven years, and was a teacher for three of his years spent there. Mr. Williams hopes to help all of his students reach new heights this year with his help. With his students, he says “I love to see their growth and excitement to learn all year.”
Yet another special education teacher addition is Mrs. Billingsley. So far, she’s enjoying her students and is excited to make a difference in their lives. Her previous experience is much different from high school education, having previously taught second through fifth grade special education for ten years. Her favorite part of teaching her students overall (young or old) is getting to see their accomplishments, big or small. She’s looking forward to everything with her new high school experience.
In the language department, Ms. Oxendine is the newest addition to the English teachers, but she’s no stranger to Herrin High. Ms. Oxendine graduated from Herrin in 2020 and has returned for the familiarity and comfort the school brings her. Now, she gets to know her teachers again as peers and gets to bring her experience from her year in Kentucky. While here, she hopes to help the Scholar Bowl team flourish as she oversees it and help students understand English, even if they don’t enjoy it at first. Overall, her goal is to “be the best version of [her] she can be, so that students can be the best versions of themselves.”
Also in the language department, Mr. Ampomah is the foreign language department’s brand-new French teacher. Mr. Ampomah previously taught French at the University of Arizona for two years. His favorite thing about Herrin High School is the students and his fellow teachers in the language hallway. He hopes to see all his students communicate effectively in French to the best of their abilities. Mr. Ampomah is motivated by the gradual improvement he sees in each of his students every day.
Excited to contribute to automotive innovation and skill development, Mr. Almaroad is one of the new additions to the CTE department, specifically in automotive technologies. As a car and truck enthusiast who “[lives], [eats], and [dreams] cars and trucks,” Mr. Almaroad is determined to help the struggling automotive industry by helping students go from high school straight into the field and use what they’ve learned at Herrin High to excel in their careers. In his new career, he’s already found it rewarding to see his shop full of students as eager to work on their vehicles and as passionate about automobiles as he is.
Another new addition to the CTE department is Mr. Jordan, the new woodshop teacher. Mr. Jordan hasn’t had any professional experience with teaching woodworking before, but he began his personal woodworking journey when he was younger with his grandfather. He does, however, have seven years of history teaching experience. Mr. Jordan brings big hopes and goals to HHS, hoping to develop a woodshop program students can be interested in and having the goal of making Herrin High woodshop program the best in the state.
Contrasting the teachers who are new to their careers, Mr. Evilsizer brings around 20 years of experience to the social studies department. His experienced background has allowed him to develop innovative teaching strategies (including a textbook-free approach he’s been using for six years) to help students get the most out of their classes and be involved in class discussions. Aside from his social studies classes, Mr. Evilsizer also has a passion for chess, which he has used to establish the HHS Chess Club. Learning from his father, he’s been in love with chess since the beginning. Now he hopes to instill that love into his students and impact their lives, just as his teachers instilled his love of teaching and social studies, influencing his life and leading him to his career.
Also, a new solo teacher in his department, Mr. Johnson brings a lot of enthusiasm for science. Mr. Johnson loves how welcoming all of the students and fellow staff are. Mr. Johnson hopes to share his great interest in science with his students to help them grow their interest in science. He hopes to show the exciting parts of science to his students this year to help them succeed in his classes. His interest in science is centered around how it can explain everything. He explains: “As someone curious about why things in nature react the way they do, or why certain interactions happen, I think science is the best subject.”
The next teacher new to the school is a familiar face, Mr. Jolliff, who has just started in the Physical Education department, after spending his previous year here as the detention teacher. This year Mr. Jolliff has high hopes to see his students enjoy getting active and learning healthy habits they can practice in their own time. He previously taught English overseas for five years. His inspiration for his subject is to help his students all get into good shape and enjoy being active just like himself.
More on detention teachers, Herrin High School’s last new teacher for this year is Mr. Emling, the new detention teacher. He brings many years of experience teaching, such as seven years at Eldorado teaching fifth grade and two years teaching fourth grade at Herrin Elementary. In addition, he was also a coach for every one of those years, and he was the Athletic Director for two years at Eldorado. In his first couple of weeks here, Mr. Emling has found it great to be able to interact with all of the different students and staff throughout the school. Mr. Emling hopes to help the students he sees struggle with grades and attendance to improve before this school year ends.
With more new faces than Herrin High School has seen in a very long time, it’s hard not to be curious about what’s to come with the wide variety of new teachers. Each of the 11 new teachers has various goals and hopes for this school year, leaving students wondering what will happen next.
