Elise Neubeck: Anuradha Basnet
Elise Neubeck, in her 17th year of teaching, has joined the PA community as an Effective Reading ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher for all grade levels. Neubeck teaches Effective Reading 1 and 2 on A-days at PA, her home school, while spending her B-days at Cox High School. Her classes help students who are learning English for the first time, as PA has a student community welcoming a number of international students.
At PA, Neubeck has loved learning about other cultures and describes her experience so far as a “refreshing start to a different part of my teaching journey.” She notes a memorable time when her students played the card game Uno in class, and a Czech and Spanish student played the game differently in their cultures, giving her insight into the many cultural differences her students have and discover about each other. Neubeck remarks that PA is a great school with a diverse student population.
Before teaching ESL classes, Neubeck taught early childhood special education at Trantwood Elementary, Centerville Elementary, and Birdneck Elementary, where she worked with 2-5 year old children with special needs. At Radford University, she earned two bachelor’s degrees and two minors in special education, early childhood education, autism studies, and art.
In her classroom, Neubeck aims to help students build their English skills, allowing them to focus on reading and writing to better their academics and understand other classes more. The class typically works in rotations so students are able to work with her, engage with the app HMH at their own pace, and immerse themselves in independent reading.
Neubeck had a speech impediment growing up, and worked with a speech therapist to improve her communication skills. During her college education, she discovered that there were many ways to help others with their speech problems, other than what she had been exposed to at a younger age. At Radford, she fell in love with early childhood education, and continued her studies in similar fields.
Outside of teaching her students, Neubeck enjoys spending time outside with her dog, painting with acrylic paint and watercolors, and traveling internationally to places including Ireland, parts of Europe, and the Caribbean.
Gabrielle Valdez: Parker Cook
Welcome PA’s new Biology and AP Environmental Science teacher: Gabrielle Valdez. This will be her fourth year teaching, but her first year teaching at PA. She is very eager to be a part of the PA community this year.
Valdez received her bachelor’s degree from Old Dominion University in biology, and her master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from Western Governors University. Previously, she was first a substitute teacher at PA, then later taught at Corporate Landing Middle School.Valdez adds that she did not originally want to become a teacher, but when she took a class in college to get a credit, she found that she had a passion for it. “I took a teaching class at ODU to kind of boost my GPA, and I enjoyed it very much. I fell in love with teaching and with teaching kids,” Valdez comments.
After developing an interest for this career, she did her student teaching program at PA in 2021 while getting her degree and she “enjoyed the school atmosphere here at PA very much and I have wanted to come back to work here ever since,” Valdez explains.
In her free time, Valdez enjoys being outside and gardening with her two-year-old son. “I like to walk my dog in parks with my son, and just be outside,” she comments.
So far, Valdez has enjoyed the close-knit school community at PA and says that she is excited for the rest of the year.
New Building Manager Samuel Johnson Fishes for Fixes: Alex Adams
Tasked with fixing up the building wherever it needs, Samuel Johnson, Princess Anne’s new Building Manager, is excited for the new opportunity at PA.
Johnson is from Virginia Beach and graduated from Kellam High School in 1988. Before coming to PA as a building manager, Johnson was in the United States Armed Forces and was employed at a now-defunct heating and ventilation company. After his time working for the company, Johnson landed at PA to incorporate himself in hands-on traits.
Johnson emphasized what led him to want to become a building manager. “As a building manager, working with your hands is an essential part of the job. It keeps you busy, and you learn a lot of new skills and traits”.
Johnson explains that a building manager includes activities such as “carpentry, electrical, plumbing”, adding that he works in almost all of the fields.
When away from the busy lifestyle of a Princess Anne building manager, he states his fondness for fishing, saying, “I love fishing, man.” In addition to fishing, Johnson also enjoys cruises and being around his family.
Shannon Lawson: Emily Winstead
For PA’s new IB English teacher, Shannon Lawson, change is not always a bad thing. “I like going into new experiences,” she shared. “You learn something from everything.” And for Lawson, coming to PA has certainly been a change. She is not new to teaching, but as she explained, her previous school had only roughly five hundred students. “I knew everybody. I knew every teacher, [and] I knew every student.”
It was a love for reading that led Lawson to become an English teacher in the first place, but it wasn’t until later in her journey that she became one. “I wanted to teach, but I wanted to teach developmental psychology in college,” she shared. “Then I met my husband in my first semester of grad school, and he didn’t live near me.” So, in order to be near him, she changed her major to community health and education. After taking some time off to raise her family, Lawson explained she knew she wanted to go back into teaching, but looked instead at teaching high school.
Lawson is teaching IB English 10 this year, something she is excited to be doing. Coming from a different school system, she now has the opportunity to introduce new authors and reading materials than she had in the past. “Where I came from in Tennessee, the curriculum and everything is completely different. So, honestly, I’m looking forward to teaching all of them [the books],” she explained. Additionally, she says she is happy to be teaching high school, and shares that it is her favorite age group to teach. “I like being able to introduce high school students to some of those stories, authors, and just the worlds that [reading] takes you to,” she elaborated.
Outside of teaching, Lawson shared that she likes spending time with her family, camping, and traveling. “We used to go to the Outerbanks,” she laughed. Lawson explained that despite having lived in Virginia before, it is her and her husband’s first time living in a beach area, something they are excited to take advantage of.
Introducing PA’s new assistant principal, Bethany Bayliss: Abby Maurer
PA’s administration team saw another change this year as Bethany Bayliss stepped into her new role as assistant principal. As she enters her 15th year in education, Bayliss shared how excited she is to be a part of the PA community. “There is definitely an atmosphere among the teachers and faculty that [says] everyone is in this together to do the very best they can do for students,” she explained. “That is truly a special feeling.”
Bayliss always knew she wanted to be a teacher. She described how she was inspired by certain teachers she had throughout her middle and high school years. She feels that she “probably wouldn’t have been as successful” without those teachers who helped her push through to the end.
Bayliss attended Cabrini University for her undergraduate degree, and after teaching math and social studies for a few years, she eventually made the transition to administration. She says that her favorite part of being an administrator is “seeing students get excited about something that they didn’t always love.”
“As a math teacher, I have realized that for some students, math isn’t always their favorite subject,” she explained. “But once they overcome the challenge, they come out of it and think ‘I accomplished something. I can do this.’”
When Bayliss is not working, she enjoys spending as much time as possible with her family. She has two young children, and she explained that their favorite thing to do together is to go to the playground. Bayliss tries to spend as much time as possible with her family outdoors.
As Bayliss continues to get more situated in the PA community, Bayliss emphasized her excitement to get to work and help PA students as much as possible. “I think that education is a community effort,” she said. “We are all here to help you all figure out what you want to do and be successful, and I am super excited to be a part of that journey for you all.”
Linda Francis: Emily Winstead
Linda Francis is thrilled to be back at PA. Having worked at PA a few years ago, Francis says returning, “feels like coming home.” Previously, she worked as a graduation advisor, but is now teaching US History. “I love US History,” she explains. “I just love the subject matter.” Her journey to becoming a US History teacher, however, was not exactly linear. “I started out as an accounting major,” she shared. When she talked with her advisor in college, however, she realized that history was what she really wanted to study, adding, “The classes I had A’s in were my history classes.”
Other than getting to teach the subject she loves, getting to work closely with students is what Francis says she is really looking forward to this year, and it is one of her favorite parts of her job. “Just last block, we were laughing,” she mentioned. Outside of her love for history and teaching, Francis says she loves to remain active. “I used to run half marathons,” she explained. Now, she does things like yoga that continue to allow her to fuel her passion for athletics.
Teacher Spotlight, Jaclyn McVea: Parker Cook
Jaclyn McVea has been a math teacher at Princess Anne High School for eight years. This school year, she teaches IBMYP Algebra II Trig and Algebra II Trig, but previously, she taught Algebra I. McVea also serves as assistant coach to PA’s Varsity Swim team.
“I went to Old Dominion University with a major in applied mathematics, a minor in special education, and a focus in secondary education,” McVea explained. After she graduated from ODU, she got a job at PA and has taught here ever since. At ODU, McVea played Division 1 soccer and later coached youth soccer at Beach FC.
She explained that she has always wanted to be a teacher when she was older. “It is the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do. I love the schedule, interactions with students, and the holiday breaks,” McVea commented. She enjoys the connections that she makes with her students each year, and seeing them grow and change throughout the year in numerous ways.
McVea explained how she wanted an opportunity to teach some of the IB Academy classes at PA. She adds this was one of the many aspects that attracted her to PA.
McVea shared some of her special hobbies or interests and said, “I love everything about or relating to social media.” Along with her job and her many commitments outside of school hours, she runs social media accounts on TikTok and on Instagram that focus on health and wellness and creates relatable parenting and teaching videos.” Outside of school, McVea enjoys hanging out with her two children. She shares that she likes to take them to the trampoline park and the beach often.
