By Isabelle Lounsberry
Ms. Willard, the fairly new media specialist at Apopka High, has been teaching her entire career life. Starting as an elementary school teacher, she started working at Apopka High last year.Willard graduated from Apopka High in 1997, and went directly to Valencia, first studying in early childhood education and eventually switching her major to psychology and getting major in both that and social work. She landed a job at Apopka and is currently working towards her goals for the library and her personal career.
What do you do here at Apopka High School?
“I am the digital media specialist. I take care of all the textbooks in the library and all of the technology. I am the frontrunner for all of the technological problems with the computers, and I try to help the teachers as much as possible with the technology.”
What is your favorite part of working here?
“The constant interaction. I get to help both students and teachers on a consistent basis, and I don’t know what I’m going to get from day to day, and I love that it’s a challenge; it’s exciting.”
What is your least favorite part of working here?
“Not being able to fix the issues. [For instance,] If I have a teacher that’s maybe in desperate need of getting something running in their room and I can’t do it. Or if a student comes in and didn’t back up all of their files to google drive, and they lose everything. I mean, it’s heartbreaking. You get all this work that they’ve done that they’ve lost, and there are times where there is nothing we can do.”
Is this where you planned to be in your career?
“No. It’s funny, I started out as a third-grade elementary school teacher. I had always planned on being a teacher since I went to school here because I had Ms. McCalskill. I taught the little mini darters when I was here, so I figured I’d be in elementary school education my whole life. But when I was at the elementary school that I worked at our media specialist got injured, I kinda filled in for her and I found a passion for connecting kids with the right books. It’s a little different on the elementary level because there’s not the technology side of it, but I was still also the technology go-to person at the elementary school I was, and I like that aspect of it. So, the path found me, rather than me finding the path.”
What led to you getting a job at Apopka?
“I was doing my job as a reading coach, and I was also trying to help out in the library while our media specialist was out. So I decided to take the test, and it was just a fluke. I decided about this time last year that I was just going to go take the test in hopes that if maybe if something opened up somewhere that I’d go do it. I took the test on Saturday after Thanksgiving, and this job opened up that Monday. I applied, and a week later I had it. It was very… serendipitous.”
How has your job changed in the time you’ve been here?
“I’ve only been here since January, so it’s not so much that the job has changed, it’s that I’ve learned the job. When I first started it was mostly fixing the Thinkpads. It’s still mostly fixing the Thinkpads, but I’ve tried to broaden what I do in order to be able to help the teachers more in the classroom. I’m not where I wanna be because I wanna do more connecting the media center with the classroom teachers, so I’m taking some classes right now to try to figure out how to best serve the rest of the campus because I don’t feel like I’m reaching my full potential here. So it hasn’t changed too much since I’ve started, but I want it to change.”
What do you think about the students you work with?
“I love high schoolers. I mean, there’s something about the level of sarcasm and being real that you get that you can’t obviously do with the elementary kids. They’re cute, they’re sweet, and they’re pretty much a blank slate that you get to mold. But high schoolers have a developed personality– and the good, the bad, and the ugly that comes with that, but I feel like it’s easier for me to connect and build relationships with the highschoolers, which I was a little worried about, coming here, cause I knew I could do it with the elementary school kids, but coming here, you know, occasionally we have a situation in the library, can I still diffuse like I could diffuse back in elementary school, and so far so good, knock on wood, so I really enjoy high schoolers.”
Do you host any activities in the library?
“I host Battle of the Books. It’s a club that we run, we meet once a week, and we are prepping for the district battle of the books. Last year we came in fifth in, I believe, 21 schools, and that’s the highest placement that we’ve played so far as a high school. We’re looking forward to, claiming that district title this year.”
What do you think Apopka is lacking in?
“Relationships. I’ve been in Apopka since I was twelve years old, and Apopka High School has always been the heart of the community, and I think that the teachers here are the reason for that. And I know we have a lot of new staff, so I really feel like Apopka as a high school needs to do more together and foster those relationships between not only students and teachers, but teachers and teachers, because when teachers enjoy working together students notice a difference, and it feels more like a family and if you feel like more of a family I feel like our students will feel safer and that will lead them to be more successful.”
What do you think it (Apopka High) is already excelling at?
“Course offerings. I think we have a plethora of different avenues for our students to be able to excel in you know, we’re not strictly a ‘You’re going to be a doctor.’ It used to be all about the medical magnet; it’s not just that anymore. I was really impressed with our level of classes that offer through the Votec and the engineering. It’s grown so much since I went to school here that there are many opportunities, there’s no reason for a student not to be able to do something they enjoy here, whether it’s through the fine arts or through something like robotics. I really am impressed with the course offerings that we have.”
Anything else you’d like to add?
“It’s good to be back, I love being a blue darter.”
She also added at the end of the interview that part of her motivation came from maternal instinct, as her own children would be coming to Apopka, and she wanted to scope the school out for their benefit. Nonetheless, I think it is safe to say the Ms. Willard is a positive new member to the Apopka family, and with her inspiring words in mind, we can safely look forward to the future she has planned.