Q: What inspired you to become a teacher?
A: The inspiration behind it was just trying to help other students be successful in their classrooms.
Q: How do you individualize instruction to meet the needs of each of your students?
A: I’m there to assess them, so I try to help them as best as I can so they can have a better understanding of the work they are doing.
Q: What is your educational background?
A: I got my elementary education degree and early child care degree a long time ago in Missouri, and then I got my certification in North Carolina. I had my job for a while, but then I had my children so I decided to be a teacher’s assistant just so it’s easier for me to work and then go home and be a mom [as well].
Q: What impact do you hope to make on your students?
A: The impact I want to have is for them to know that with the right teachers and the right help, they have the ability to be successful with their work.
Q: How have you been liking it at Wakefield so far?
A: So far I really like Wakefield, I was the “newbie” for a while, but the staff and all the students have been very welcoming at the school even though it’s so big.
Q: What drew you to Wakefield?
A: I was at Wakefield Middle School and my position was no longer available for the following school year, and some of the teachers knew the administration here at the high school and they knew there were positions available for the following school year. I [then] had an interview with Mrs. Acrey and she wanted to know if I was interested in [any of the listed] positions and I told her I was interested in the OCS one.
Q: What are your goals for this school year?
A: My goals are to become more familiar with the OCS standard course of study and also to be helpful towards the students and teachers with whatever they are doing.
Q: Anything else you would like to add?
A: There was a newcomers camp for the new employees and I thought that was really helpful for us because they went over everything Wakefield-related, and it also gave us an opportunity to ask questions and get answers.
Q: What is your name and what do you do here at Wakefield?
A: My name is Lola Combs, and I am an Instructional Assistant in an ECS Special Education classroom.
Q: What inspired you to teach special education?
A: It’s just something I’ve always wanted to do. I remember doing a big “dream career” assignment about being a Special Education teacher when I was in 7th grade. I’ve also done work with Yachad (the national Jewish council for persons with disabilities), Friendship Circle (a Chabad Hasidic special needs organization) helping with special needs teenagers and adults in the United States and Israel which helped fuel the decision.
Q: What is your educational background?
A: I actually graduated in December from William Peace University with a Bachelor’s in Psychology. I’m in the process of choosing my Master’s right now.
Q: What impact do you hope to make on your students?
A: I want my impact on my students to be one that fosters their independence and develops both their social and physical skills.
Q: If you were not a teacher, what would you do?
A: That’s hard since I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. I’d most likely want to be a cultural anthropologist and study other cultures.
Q: What are your goals for this school year?
A: My main goal is to learn as much as possible from my students and coworkers about effective teaching to prepare me for becoming a certified teacher.
Q: What is your name and what do you teach?
A: My name is Patrick Craner and I am teaching CTE Construction Core and Carpentry I.
Q: What inspired you to teach those classes?
A: I’ve been subbing up here the last two years and a teacher in this room, Mr. Lanven, knew me because I’ve volunteered here since covid. He asked me if I’d be interested in the position if he was retiring. I like teaching kids about tools and building stuff.
Q: What is your educational background?
A: I actually have ten years of teaching [experience] in elementary schools, so this was a big jump.
Q: What impact do you hope to make on your students?
A: I hope that I’ll get [students] to understand that if they don’t have a college path or don’t want to go to college, the stuff they learn in here can turn into a trade.
Q: If you were not a teacher, what would you do?
A: Probably volunteering and taking my dogs to the park everyday. I was retired, and just got back into this.
Q: What do you like to do outside of school?
A: Outside of school I like to bike ride and take my dogs to the park every day. I also like to go watch my daughter’s soccer games.
Q: What drew you to Wakefield?
A: Proximity, mostly.
Q: What are your goals for this school year?
A: To get the kids interested in it (class) and to really get them to learn how to use the tools and build something.
Q: Anything else you’d like to add?
A: I haven’t used a PC in 15 years, so this is a learning experience. Everything is so new to me, but there have been people here who are very helpful with getting me through.
Q: What is your name and what do you teach?
A: Melissa Crow and I am a one-on-one in the ECS department, so I work with [one student] all day long.
Q: What inspired you to teach in the ECS department?
A: I just like working with kids and my son actually graduated from [Wakefield High School] last year, [so] I just feel familiar with this school. I was at the middle school for the last two years, so it was just a familiar area to work.
Q: What impact do you hope to make on your students?
A: Just to get [my student] prepared to pass high school and to stay in school a bit longer than mainstream kids. [I also want to] help him to learn life skills, so he can make it out in the world.
Q: What do you like to do outside of school?
A: I spend time with my family. We like to do outdoor [activities]. I love fall, it is my favorite season. We try to do [activities] around that time of year.
Q: What is your educational background?
A: I have a degree in Anthropology and I am hoping to go back to get a Masters degree.
Q: What drew you to Wakefield?
A: We live in the neighborhood, so I am familiar with it. I know a lot of teachers and I just really like it.
Q: What are your goals for this school year?
A: Since [my student] is coming from middle school, I want to get him adjusted to [high school]. A much larger school can be a little confusing.
Q: What is your name and what do you teach?
A: My name is Casey Davenport, or Coach Davenport, I am the Financial Planning I and Business Management I teacher.
Q: What inspired you to teach these subjects?
A: I own a few businesses, I do entrepreneurship, I have restaurants and clothing lines.
Q: What is your educational background?
A: I graduated from Winston-Salem State University with a bachelor’s in Marketing.
Q: What impact do you hope to make on your students?
A: Give them the tools that allow them to grasp what I have taught them about my own experience and use it outside of highschool. For Financial Planning, to set up their retirement accounts and to have money to pass on to their family. With Business Management, give them the tools and scenarios that allow them to be knowledgeable to own a business.
Q: If you were not a teacher, what would you do?
A: I’d still be a business owner and work on the businesses I have in order for them to be successful.
Q: What do you like to do outside of school?
A: I love auto mechanics, I have classic cars that I like to restore. I also do a lot of work around my home, I have sort of a fixer upper, getting that home to be as comfortable as possible is one of my top priorities.
Q: What drew you to Wakefield?
A: My wife works here, Mrs. Davenport, [she] is the Alternative Learning Coordinator. I came to the school last year as a disciplinary clerk and I gravitated towards the children a lot.
Q: What are your goals for the school year?
A: One of the highest goals is passing ratings for a beginning teacher, also for my students to fully understand and grasp the material.
Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?
A: I’m an open book with the staff and students. If they have any questions I’m someone they can come to and always get the truth.
Q: What got you into teaching theater?
A: I had just moved back to Raleigh and I was a personal trainer and one of my clients asked me if I would choreograph a show for her because she knew that I had my master’s in theater and that I was also so I agreed to choreograph her show. And after working with those kids, I very quickly realized that I wanted to be teaching and that was where I needed to be. So I applied at Wakefield Middle and I became what’s called a lateral entry teacher where you are teaching. I had the content background, but I didn’t have the teaching degree. So while I was teaching in the classroom, I was also earning my degree basically to be a teacher as well.
Q: What is your educational background?
A: Master’s degree in theater, performance acting from UNCG. It’s a master’s in acting, and then I have a bachelor’s degree from App State in performance. And my minor is in dance.
Q: What impact do you hope to make on your students?
A: I’m in a unique situation because I came from [Wakefield] middle school. So I know so many of the students, even if they aren’t in my classroom, so it’s always been my goal to create a safe space for kids, create a space where they want to be and they want to, be creative and feel free and safe to do that. So I just want to make sure that we have an inclusive department that sees everyone and provides a space for everyone, no matter where they are in their life.
Q: If you weren’t a teacher, what would you be?
A: I don’t know because I was a personal trainer for years and I was a fitness manager at a club in Washington, D.C. That’s where I was before I moved here. I really honestly can’t see myself doing anything else. That’s kind of how I ended up here.
Q: What do you like to do outside of school?
A: I’m a big nerd; I love to read. I actually love to play [Dungeons and Dragons]. I have a family, and so I love hanging out with my family and going hiking and just being active in general. I work out every day.
Q: What drew you to come to Wakefield High School?
A: I loved my kids at the middle school, and I also loved the relationship that we had with the high school and working with those kids and getting to see them year after year. And when Mr. Orsett announced that he was retiring, the big question was, will Miss Delaney go to the high school? And I always said, no, absolutely not. I love where I am. But I started to feel like I was ready for a new challenge and I really love working with high school students. I love this age. So when the opportunity presented itself, it made sense for me to at least try. So here I am.
Q: What are your goals for this year?
A: Survive. Being the theater director here is a lot. We do two ed matinees, one in the fall and one in the spring. We already have over 2000 elementary school students signed up from around the county that will be coming in to see these shows during the school day. So I’m already in production for that. We have auditions after school today to finish up for Descendants. So I’ll be in production for two shows. And then we’ll also sponsor the show at the elementary school. So my kids will go down, direct, choreograph, all of that stuff, and then we’ll bring them here for the performance. So I jokingly say survive, but it really is a lot. So my goal this year is to have grace with myself and hopefully provide students with opportunities that they are passionate about and that they can get excited about, then in terms of rehearsals, I just want kids to love theater as much as I do.
Q: Anything else you’d like to add?
A: Taking this job is a big step, but I’m really excited to be here. It’s been wonderful so far, and I absolutely adore my students.
Q: What is your name and what do you teach?
A: My name is Nadine Head and I teach science. This year I’m teaching Biology and Earth and Environmental Science.
Q: What inspired you to teach science?
A: It was my undergraduate degree that I got in biology that really got me interested in going into science. I started out in library science, and then from library science I moved back into science.
Q: What is your educational background?
A: My educational background actually started in recreational leadership, of which I have a two-year degree. Then I moved to Biology at a four-year school and then [received] a Masters in Information Science.
Q: What impact do you hope to make on your students?
A: I hope to share with them the love of science, not just make it boring but try to make it more interesting to them. I’m interested in trying to figure out on the high school level how far we can go in it, how deep we can go in science versus just going over the basics.
Q: If you were not a teacher, what would you do?
A: I do enjoy photography, so I’d probably travel and take photos.
Q: What do you like to do outside of school?
A: I really enjoy taking nature photos of plants and animals and things like that. I like visiting places like zoos and natural areas and of course spending time with my boys who also really enjoy that.
Q: What drew you to Wakefield?
A: My husband. My husband predates me by about one semester. That’s really what interested me, and I’ve also enjoyed the area myself too.
Q: What are your goals for this school year?
A: To probably figure a little more about the high school content itself. I always like to learn, and the best way to learn is to teach other people. I love science itself, but there’s something where after reading it, after studying it and then you move onto teaching it, that you learn something more.
Q: Anything else you’d like to add?
A: My boys are going to Wakefield Elementary School, so they’re just down the hill from me. My husband is a social studies teacher on the second floor.
Q: What is your name and what do you teach?
A: My name is Shavonne Lodenquai and I teach child development.
Q: What inspired you to teach child development?
A: I come from a family of teachers, so they inspired me. My mom was a primary school teacher and she encouraged me to become a teacher. And then I just took on that role.
Q: What is your educational background?
A: I did my bachelor’s in family consumer science at the University of the Bahamas. And then I did my master’s degree in family studies at Amberton University. I’m also working now on my doctorate in educational leadership at Liberty University.
Q: What impact do you hope to make on your students?
A: I hope that they can enjoy it, first of all. I also want them to be successful in the class. After they leave high school, I want them to learn so much that when they get out in the real world, they can apply everything that they learned.
Q: If you were not a teacher, what would you do?
A: I think that I would be an academic adviser at a college level. Still in education.
Q: What do you like to do outside of school?
A: I like to spend time with my family, my husband and my children. I also love to shop.
Q: What drew you to Wakefield?
A: Relocation. I wanted to apply to Wake County, and then I had an interview here, and got the job here.
Q: What are your goals for this school year?
A: My goals [are] to learn everything I can about Wakefield High School, and also be successful in teaching child development because I taught at other schools, but I taught food and nutrition, and culinary. This is actually my first time teaching child development, so my goal is to be successful in teaching it.
Q: What is your name and what do you teach?
A: My name is Caitlin Powell, and I teach Economics and Personal Finance, Employment Preparation, and Fundamentals of Math.
Q: What inspired you to teach?
A: This is my first year here at Wakefield. At previous schools where I worked, I taught different subjects every semester. I think I like teaching these classes because [they] give you a good foundation of what it’s like after high school. In Economics and Personal Finance, we learn much about checking and savings accounts. I wish I had a class like that when I was in high school. I love [the employment] class because it gives me a chance to teach the kids how to write a resume and a cover letter. I never had that as a high school student either.
Q: What is your educational background?
A: I went to a Wake County school. I’m from Raleigh. I actually went to Green Hope High School, which looks just like [Wakefield]. I went to William Peace University in Raleigh, and I am applying to grad school at NC State.
Q: What impact do you hope to make on your students?
A: I hope I can guide them to make good choices and good decisions when it comes to just being a good person in life. I hope I can give them the foundation that I can, to be successful whether they go to college or if they go into the workforce. I wrote for the newspaper in college and I enjoyed it. That’s what I want to do go into journalism.
Q: If you were not a teacher, what would you do?
A: I was going to say professor, but that’s still teaching. I would be a writer for a newspaper.
Q: What do you like to do outside of school?
A: I camp and hike. I love cooking and baking. I love crocheting and knitting because I’m a nerd. I love reading. I travel. I used to live overseas in Germany. I’ve been to 40 out of the 50 states.
Q: What drew you to Wakefield?
A: My family lives here. Being back in Wake County, I knew the platform of [Wakefield]. I wanted to [teach] at a bigger school. I came from a smaller county. I wanted to come back home and be in a more familiar setting.
Q: What are your goals for this school year?
A: I would like to see my students score higher on their testing than they have. I’d like to test every month in certain skill areas, so I’d like to test every month to see their scores improve. I’d like to see my pie charts get a lot of green on them. I would like to see my students all get part-time jobs using the skills that we’ve learned. I would like to get into grad school.
Q: Anything else you’d like to add?
A: I’ve been a vegetarian for 17 years.
Q: What is your name and what do you teach?
A: My name is Kaylee Radford and I teach Animal Science courses.
Q: What inspired you to teach animal sciences?
A: I love the idea of broadening students in the mindset of agriculture and I feel like animals are an easy segway into it. I also just love animals.
Q: What is your educational background?
A: I went to NC State for three and a half years and got an animal science degree.
Q: What impact do you hope to make on your students?
A: Everyone thinks that [with] animal science [you] can only go the vet route. I hope that I can show them there are other options where they can love animals without having to go to school for eight years.
Q: If you were not a teacher, what would you do?
A: I would probably still work in agriculture with animals just probably as a livestock agent.
Q: What do you like to do outside of school?
A: I like to hang out with my dog and my cat and I like to go home and visit my friends and family back home a lot.
Q: What drew you to Wakefield?
A: I like the fact that Wakefield has like the FFA program, The Future Farmers of America, it’s a very big program and it is very successful. Ms. Veazie has done an awesome job with it for the past 3 years and I’m really hoping to be able to add to it.
Q: What are your goals for this school year?
A: My goal is to honestly make any sort of impact I can with the kids because I realized that they are the next generation and so what I teach them will influence what happens later on.
Q: What is your name and what do you teach?
A: [My name is] Kaylene Turschmann and I teach ICR which is English II support for any kid who needs reading and writing support. I also teach a CA class which is organization habits, studying habits and communication skills. On top of [that] I teach a high school reading class that gets into phonics, spelling and reading comprehension.
Q: What inspired you to teach [specific subject]?
A: ELA is my passion, I love to read and write. Also, when I was in school I had a lot of amazing ELA teachers and they made the class fun for me.
Q: What impact do you hope to make on your students?
A: I want my students to realize that even though they might have gaps in their learning, they can become proud of who they are and proud of what they can do instead of what they can’t.
Q: If you were not a teacher, what would you do?
A: I would probably be a group fitness instructor or I would own a doggy daycare.
Q: What do you like to do outside of school?
A: I like to walk my puppy and I like to go hiking and running. I enjoy exploring [the] outdoors.
Q: What drew you to Wakefield?
A: I have family in the area so we moved here for our family.
Q: What are your goals for this school year?
A: To learn the Wakefield way and why ‘all about the W’ is such a big deal because I am so new. I also want to learn about the community and just be a part of it.
Q: Anything else you’d like to add?
A: [I think it is good to] unplug every single day and take yourself away from social media. Get out there and do something you love because [social media] is such a toxic tool.
Q: What is your name and what do you teach?
A: My name is Ms. Wilder, I teach culinary arts.
Q: What is your educational background?
A: I went to undergrad for exercise science at Winston Salem State University, and then I went to culinary school at the chef’s academy.
Q: What impact do you hope to make on your students?
A: I hope to inspire kids to cook professionally and do it well. A lot of times you see people who don’t have any training, or they come in and want to cook like they cook at their house and it’s very different [than professionally].
Q: If you were not a teacher, what would you do?
A: I have been in the restaurant industry for the last 10 years, so I would probably still be doing that. I do a little private cheffing on the side too [and have been for eight years], so I would probably do that full time.
Q: What do you like to do outside of school?
A: I would like to just chill; take it easy.
Q: What drew you to Wakefield?
A: Nothing in particular. I knew a teacher here and I came to visit. It seemed like a nice atmosphere, so here I am.
Q: What are your goals for this school year?
A: To make it through. I’m a first year teacher, [so] I’m just getting into the swing of things; a different role or a different environment, different day-to-day activities and things like that.
Q: What inspired you to teach civics?
A: I have known that I wanted to be a teacher since I was in elementary school. It was confirmed in high school when I was a tutor for math. Since then, I have liked the lightbulb-aha moment where a kid goes from not understanding to understanding.
Q: What is your educational background?
A: I went to Clayton High School in Clayton, North Carolina, and graduated from there. Then I went to Peace and then transferred from Peace and went to Meredith College where I graduated with a degree in history as well as a license to teach.
Q: What impact do you hope to make on your students?
A: The motto that I live by is I treat them like a person. When I was in high school I was very active in student government, clubs and sports, and I want everyone to know that although I give you assignments and homework, at the end of the day I still want you to be a respectable human being. I think that sometimes something that is neglected in teaching is treating kids like they are people.
Q: What do you like to do outside of school?
A: I like to hang out with my friends, I watch a lot of TV, particularly competitive reality TV: Master Chef and Survivor. I also have a dog named Murphy, he is an English Bulldog. I play video games too, I have a PlayStation and I play Apex.
Q: What drew you to Wakefield?
A: I liked the area and I wanted to teach in Wake County. I liked how competitive athletically Wakefield is. Mr. Atkinson was my teacher in high school and he was the one that hired me. He used to be at Clayton when I was a student at Clayton so that was also like, “Wow, someone that is familiar.”
Q: What are your goals for this school year?
A: My goal for this school year is to make the best of what is considered the hardest year of teaching, to have a successful first year of coaching, and for all of my students to pass.
