All throughout the current school year, new teachers and various staff members are coming or leaving for different reasons. With many teachers leaving the school, there has to be another one to replace them, leaving shoes to fill.

As of March 3, seventh grade world geography teacher Shawn Cerully left the staff.  He went to pursue a new job as the Special Projects Coordinator at the Appalachia IU8.

“As the Special Projects Coordinator, I am in charge of planning, organizing, and implementing educational programs.  I currently work with a combined total of 36 school districts within Blair, Bedford, Cambria and Somerset counties,” Cerully said. “Some of the more popular programs I run are the ATOMS program, Scholastic Quiz Competition, Reading Competition, K’Nex challenge and Lego League. These programs and others all fall under the “Special Projects” department of the Appalachia IU8.”

The teacher who replaced Cerully is Keith McFarland. McFarland is a substitute teacher who was called upon to cover until the end of the year.

“First I really want to take a moment to publicly thank Mr. Cerully.  I met him last school year while I was doing my student teaching here at Altoona Area Junior High, and he was of great support to me. He left big shoes to fill, but I’m thankful for the opportunity. Even though I’ve never had the experience, I’d imagine it’s a lot like buying a used house. Even though the furniture is great, you immediately start re-arranging it in your head, coming up with slightly different seating arrangements that better fit your style of teaching,” McFarland said. “I am excited to build a new deck for my house, in other words, build new and innovative lesson plans for my subject matter, create memories by sharing in the experience of learning with my students, and I am excited to be a part of adding value to the great community here at AAJHS.”

Cerully leaving affected many; however, there were multiple other teachers/staff members that also left this year. Another one would be George Sinisi. Sinisi retired from his teaching job on Dec 22, 2016. Sinisi’s replacement is David Holton.

“It’s given me a new outlook on the teaching profession. It has revived my passion for teaching. Plus, I am fortunate enough to work with a great group of teachers:  Mr. Greaser, Mrs. Danish and Mrs. Peterman,” Holton said.

More staff members who have left this school year are both of the in school suspension teachers, Holton and McKenzie Wilber. Holton left to become Sinisi’s replacement. Cameron Kyle replaced Wilber and Trisha Noonan replaced Holton.

“Honestly, it’s an honor to join the AAJHS team. It’s been somewhat challenging adapting to someone else’s pace, but ultimately it’s rewarding to be in a classroom that I can tentatively call my own,” Kyle said.

“It feels like there is a little pressure because you are replacing a teacher that other students know well, and you want to be able to do just as good of a job,” Noonan said.

Finally, there was a staff member that joined this year. It was the seventh grade principal, Dana Bogle.

“I was nervous at first but everyone has been really kind and welcoming. I love my job here,” Bogle said.