Teacher Feature: Ms. Schendel
Valley Middle School welcomes Ms. Schendel this year! She chose to come to Valley because many of her colleagues and mentors had been saying great things about it. They helped her get an interview at Valley, where she fell in love with the school and the people in it.
“Valley chose me more than anything,” she says. She thinks the students are nice and talkative, which isn’t always a negative thing according to her. She says she’s only gotten to work with 7th graders so far, but that she is sure the other students are just as great. She has also worked with the students that played on the Valley Middle School volleyball team. She has loved every student she has met so far. This is her first teaching job, but she taught also swimming for about 6 years prior. This makes her more comfortable using a lesson plan and working with kids.
She chose a career in art because growing up art was her only escape from the core subjects she struggled with in school. She says that it helped her to express herself better. She took darkroom photography classes in high school and her teacher influenced her to teach art by empowering the students. She was very inspired by this. She tried other stuff but wasn’t really passionate about it, and continuously fell back on art. She eventually realized that teaching art was what her purpose.
Her favorite type of art is 3D like sculptures and ceramics. She enjoys using her hands and getting messy to create art because there are no restrictions to what you can do with the materials. I’m really drawn to things that use bright, bold colors — Ms. Schendel
“I’m really drawn to things that use bright, bold colors.” she adds. She wants to learn more about STEM, and thinks the Fab Lab is cool because she has a background on graphic art. She likes how STEM and art are similar because they both require creativity. She thinks the push in program help kids recognize their creative side.
Ms. Schendel is an accomplished woman with an associates degree in graphic art, a bachelor’s degree in studio art, and now she’s even working on getting her masters degree in education. Her favorite thing about her job is working with kids and supporting them in being their best selves, which is what teachers get to do everyday. She wouldn’t enjoy doing art herself as much as in the classroom because she likes seeing the students’ creativity. When she was younger she did lots of drawing, legos, and architecture. It kept progressing as she found passion in photography and explored other types of art in college.
When asked what she thinks could be improved upon in the art program she said “More art would be my biggest thing, I just think that students want more art time, and if there is a way that we can do that it would make the program better” She hopes that as she grows with Valley, the art classes could too. She wants to do an after school art club for students and hopes to go about getting it started as soon as possible. She wishes we could do more messy projects like clay but time would cut that short. She loves getting dirty when painting and wants to do more environmental art as well.
Macie • Dec 6, 2019 at 1:20 pm
RUBY THIS IS REALLY GOODDDD!!!!
Mason Phoulavan • Dec 21, 2018 at 1:19 pm
I really think that Ms. Schendel is a great teacher and she is a great fit for VMSS.
Safiyyah • Dec 21, 2018 at 1:16 pm
I find this article very interesting and informative. I am happy that we get to learn more about our new art teacher. Keep up the great work Eagle’s Call! Your publicity director is the best.