“My stepdad and my dad are military. My whole family is military. All of the guys are either in the Army, Air Force or Navy. Sometimes I go to work with my dad, and it’s really cool to see him do his job because he is an engineer. He works on the different oxygen supply tanks on submarines. It’s cool.”

“This is my 34^th year in education and my 27^th in student activities, all here at Lynnhaven. The kid who is involved feels more a part of the school. The kid who is involved becomes part of a team. The kid who is involved has that older kid to look up to. It makes a more well-rounded student. They’re not going to come home and become a couch potato. They’re not going to become detached or disinterested. It’s a happier kid. It’s a healthier kid – emotionally, mentally and physically. Whether it’s a club or a sport, you feel like you belong because you are vested in it. It’s rewarding and you feel better about yourself. You blossom and you grow more mature. Then you’re not overwhelmed by the time you get to high school.

I adore my position because I get to put my finger on the pulse of so many things. One of the things that I have the most pride about is the community service. Having that opportunity to take that young impressionable mind and say, ‘You can and do make a difference.’”

“My favorite part of cheering is that I get to call a cheer and everybody can watch us.”

Do you have a favorite cheer?

“Yes. ‘Leading diamonds. Let’s go. Let’s go. Let’s go!’ I made that one up myself.”

“I like music class. We get to sing songs.”

What’s your favorite song?

“King Tut.”

How does it go?

“King Tut-Tut. …Oh, I forgot the next word.”

“I’m a supervisor, I supervise about 48 drivers. I’m retired Army and when I was in the Army I managed soldiers and I basically do that here with my bus drivers. We talk about being responsible, especially looking at areas of safety. I did that in the military and, again, it’s real important when you are talking about transporting children to and from school and doing it in a safe manner.”

“Everybody has something, some skill, some ability that they can bring to a classroom. I worked for the government for 33 years and was invited in to do a Mr. Engineer presentation. That turned into, ‘Can you do it with other classes?’ That turned into, ‘Can you come in a day or two?’ And, here we are three years later. I am really blessed to be able to come in here three days a week now and work with the children. It doesn’t get old. They offer me something to learn every day I show up.”

“My favorite day of the week is Friday. I like to be done with school. I’m not saying school is not fun. I love school. And I love Ms. Bozard.”

“In college, I want to investigate mental health and the stigma against mental health, and where this feeling that it’s not okay to speak about mental health comes from. Mental health is just as important as physical health. If you are having depression or anxiety, you should go have that treated just like if you broke your arm.

I think there are probably a lot of people who do need someone to talk to who have not reached out or feel that there is something wrong if they do. I feel that sometimes, for teens and kids, their emotions are not always validated, and I think it’s important to validate everyone’s emotions. If you say you’re sad, it’s okay to be sad, and no one has the right to say you’re not. As an adult, when you get to make choices for yourself, I think it is a little easier to get help. But I feel for kids, getting help is a harder thing to do because maybe not everyone believes what you are telling them you feel.

I’d like to help teens and kids deal with things that are going on in their lives that they wouldn’t normally be comfortable talking about and to help them be a better version of themselves. I would like to be that person you feel like you can come talk to; that it’s a safe place; and that you can better yourself from that and become stronger.”

“I created the piece mainly for my mom. This drawing was based off a picture of me saying goodbye to my mom when she was going off on deployment. I was 15 months old and wearing my mom’s Navy uniform. The background for this piece is a map of some of the 50 states. As a military child I moved around a couple of times. The states with a red ‘x’ on them are the places I have lived as a military child. It is hard for all military children to move and say goodbye to their family members.”

What’s the best part of having a new baby sister?

“She is so, so, so, so cute!”

“I’ve been driving a bus for 16 years. I like it. I like the kids, I just like it. I go to different places out in the county, I drive out in the county, an academy driver and a regular ed driver.”

What would you do if you weren’t doing this?

(Laughing)

“Probably work in a department store or sit at home and let my husband take care of me.”

“For somebody my age, school is so different now than it was then. Volunteering helps you keep your finger on the pulse. It helps you keep current; it keeps you active and you feel like you are doing something for the community. I just enjoy helping the kids. I don’t expect to see any of them on Project Runway, but it exposes them to something else. Maybe when they are in college and they rip their jeans, they can get a needle and thread and fix that seam or sew on a button – things like that. Life skills that we all need. We have a good time.” #VolunteersOfVBCPS

“I’ve always been one of the little kids that loved going to the dentist.  When I was about eight years old I would go to the dentist with my grandmother who had Alzheimer’s to help my dentist with her and he like said like “Hey, do you want to help out?” and as a little kid that is so much fun.  So I would help out with my grandmother over the years and I just like became more interested.  I just started asking questions and then the summer before my freshman year I shadowed so I got to experience the day in the life of dentist and became even more interested in the career.”

“As a former Division I wrestler, I find myself enjoying challenges. Teaching middle school can be very challenging. Whenever I am asked what I do, you can imagine the look on that person’s face when I tell them I teach sixth-grade math. I let them know my job is flat out fun. I get to work with students who are going through one of the biggest changes in their lives. The transition is tough to go from elementary to middle school and I get to be on the front line. My responsibility is to educate, challenge, and make school a great environment for them. I enjoy this challenge and strive to do things better each day, each year.

And, have you ever had a conversation with a middle school student? They are smart, unique, adjusting to big changes in their worlds, hilarious and sometimes just plain awesome.”

“Well, my educational journey is much different than for most students. I am a first-generation American. My main goal in the school system is to make my parents proud and prove to them that their sacrifice to coming to America was worth it. To accomplish this, I became SCA president and involved with my community. My main focus is to serve others and put my best foot forward.”

“I made it for my grandfather. He got me the bracelet in the drawing and those are his dog tags. It’s just to resemble that he made it through and he has the dog tags. Those are my hands. It took me almost a month to draw it because I had lay the dog tags out on my hands while trying to draw with this hand. I was just going to put a random name or design, and my mom said, ‘Well, your grandpa was in the Navy.’ So, it says Ray Melvin Roundtree. The names go from bottom to top.”

“I’m passionate about playing the violin. I’ve been playing for about 12 years now and play in many orchestra and chamber groups. I really love the way it brings people together and the way it makes me feel when I’m playing.”

“I’m the oldest of 14 children, the father of six and the uncle of 40. I’m a grandfather and my other family is the Marine Corps. Seen a little combat, but my passion is my family. Worked hard, raised my children; got four of them through college. Got my father and sisters taken care of and now working with the grandkids. That’s why I work at an elementary school because I like children, too.”

“The best part of my normal routine is having great opportunities to come to places like the ATC. It’s a great program. I’m very thankful and blessed to have that opportunity and then to go right across the street to the technology academy over at Landstown. I’m very thankful about that. I want to go into the cyber security field.”

“I’m going to go to this dance workshop in Las Vegas. It’s like five days. You just get to go and meet all these people who have done things. You get to have a lot of fun. I’m going to be going with my mom so that’ll be cool.”

“I really enjoy playing soccer and listening to music because it keeps my mind off everything else that’s going on in the world – stressful things, like school. (Music) keeps me focused. I use it to help me with schoolwork too.