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BIA Newsletter

Text Box: It’s a fresh new school year, with many new students ready to break in our new school, bringing their opinions of our illustrious school. The new freshmen students are: Peter Yasutake, Malik Moore, Christie Immel, Kyoko Biddle, Sokol Rustemi, Young Hee Somemoto, Anne-Claire Beauvais, Chantell Nobles, Guk Sung An, and Daniel Hirano. The new sophomores are: In Sung Harbour, Kohki Machida, Joshua Baum, Jarl Evensen,

Text Box: YeMi Moore, Hiroyoshi Ichikawa, and Mikola Stewart. The new juniors are: Andrew Stewart, Seishin Hashiguchi, and Sun Ho Lee. The new seniors are: Dan Panzer, Emerick Brisebois, and Conrad Moore. However, these new students aren’t just names on paper; they have their own thoughts on what goes on around here. Some are following in the footsteps of their siblings, and others come from other countries with very different customs.

Text Box: Andrew Stewart, a student from Canada, expresses his culture shock after coming to America: “Everything is so different in America.” When we asked Mikola Stewart what he thought of our Student Council President, he said, “The president is chill. She’s awesome.” From school politics to their favorite teachers, they expressed their viewpoints, and we were amazed at the differing opinions. We even asked the students how they viewed themselves in

Text Box: relation to their new school. When asked how she felt on being called fresh meat, Chantell Nobles replied, “Haha… you want some steak?” Even Dan Panzer, a new senior, comments, “I’m new, but fresh new.” One thing a majority of them agree on; if they were trapped on a desert island and they had to bring a teacher, they would bring the new teacher, Mr. Jager. As the new students walk around the school, slowly assimilating themselves into our new school environment, give them a smile, and you might have made a friend for life.

Text Box: This year we have many new students; however, this article is devoted to our faculty/staff. First there is Mrs. Nora Spurgin, our principal. Our President is Dr. Hugh Spurgin, who has many titles such as M.P.A, M.Div and Ph.D. We have Mrs. Marianne Tecun, our Academic dean. Her husband Mr. Rolando Tecun, who teaches Spanish and leads our school band. Mr. Kenya

Text Box: Sohn, who runs our much-valued server, teaches Computer Science and Graphics, and has a killer kick in Tae Kwon Do. Ms. Maja Hodzic (soon to be Mrs. Maja Esposito) teaches English Literature and Language Arts. Mrs. Tatyana Vyazikina teaches World Civilization I & II along with General Sciences/U.S. History for ELL students. She also leads mentoring for BHS (Bridgerpot Hope

Text Box: School). Leading the science department and choir is Mrs. Joan Van Geldern. The ELL department is made up of Mrs. Diana Evensen, who has two children in the school, and Mr. Noel Cleary. Mr. Risun Jager is our new Math teacher; we expect him to go far. On Wednesdays we usually see Mrs. Kum Taek Oh who teaches the Ceramics class. Mr. Paul An is in charge of

Text Box: International Programs and Korean class. Mrs. Dora Pimentel, our secretary, works in the office with Ms. Jong Hwa Bessell, administrative secretary, and Amy Dorlig, our bookkeeper. Mrs. Pamella Sallah and Mrs. Elizabeth Jones are our school nurses. Last but not least leading the Gym department are: Mr. Mike Zambon and his wife-to-be Ms. Kirstin Abrahams. These are the people who make our school a reality.

Text Box: This year there are 25 international students attending BIA. They come from different countries; Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, France, Japan, Korea, Norway, Serbia, and Vietnam. We asked a few of the students why they came here and how they like BIA. The first interviewee was Mikola Stewart from

Text Box: Canada and his answers were “My parents wanted me to hang out with a better crowd, and I found TJ. I also think the school is okay and all.” The second interviewee was Abby Asamoah from Japan, and she said, “The school is good, and I came here because my aunt lives here.”