By Michaela Etienne
Who is Ms. Springer? Some of you might not know her, but may know her work. She has been working here since 1996. She is the teacher responsible for the distribution and arrangement of the AHS yearbook since 2003. Ms.Springer and her staff work hard on trying to place over 3,000 student pictures in the yearbook. Aside from that, she is an English III and English III Honors teacher trying to prepare her students. Regardless of these obstacles, Ms. Springer and her staff each year manage to get the yearbooks published and out in time so that students, faculty, and parents can all enjoy.
How long have you been teaching at Apopka High School?
This is my twenty-second year teaching at Apopka High School.
What do you teach at Apopka High School?
English III, English III Honors, and Journalism Yearbook.
When did you start teaching yearbook?
2003 was the first yearbook that I did with Apopka High School, and I’ve been doing it ever since.
What do you do in Journalism?
In journalism class, the students learn everything they need for digital desktop publishing, and they create the yearbook. They take the pictures, they write the copies. I just supervise them. Everything that goes into publishing the yearbook the students do.
What are the requirements for people to enter yearbook?
They just need to have at least a 3.0 in their English classes. They could be in any grade level except for 9th graders. They just need at least a B in their current English class. They have to fill out an application, and do a sample writing so I can see how their writing is, a little interview and that’s it.
What’s your best moment at Apopka high school?
The best I think it was the first year that we went to an A grade. Everyone worked really hard, the students worked really hard, and it was really exciting for us.
Do you have any favorite hobbies or interests outside of school?
I like to travel, and my favorite trip I think is when we went to New York City. One time we walked the entire length of Manhattan. We started at the top and went straight to Wall Street. I like to cook, read, and I like hanging out with my dog.
What’s your favorite book?
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. I did my masters thesis on that book, and I just love it. I read it all the time.
What or who inspired you to become a teacher?
This is easy. Two things: my high school English teacher who is still at West Orange High School–he was just so inspiring–and the movie Dead Poets Society. If you watch you’ll understand.
If you weren’t teaching, what career would you pursue?
I might be doing something in publishing, maybe editing or working for a magazine doing layouts and things like that, because I was in high school yearbook and I just always liked doing this kind of stuff.