December 2017 Features 4

November
Students of
the Month
Sandra Phan
&
Alexander Schor
Rotary chooses musicians, Sandra Phan and
Alexander Schor as students of the month Rotary members posed with the November students of the month, Sandra Phan and Alex Schor. They attended the
Rotary meeting on Thursday at The Great American Saloon.

By: Emily Heiss Features Editor

When she isn’t busy study- spiration to work harder each She is currently taking AP Junior Alexander Schor, tennis experience to help Coach
ing the makeup of functional and every day. With every ob- Chemistry in order to prepare commonly known as Alex, is the Small in managing the girls ten-
groups like, Alcohols and Car- stacle she has faced, she sees her for her future major in other November Student of the nis team.
boxyls, Sandra Phan can be that as inspiration to over- chemistry. Her goal after col- Month. Tennis is among the many
seen studying the makeup of a come anything. lege is to become a dermatolo- With a diversity in interests, things that he does when he
piece on the piano. gist, however she also is inter- Alex does it all. He says, “The isn’t pursuing his academic ca-
Sandra Phan is one of the “My family was not ested in being a pharmaceutical key to being proficient in what- reer. His greatest accomplish-
two students that were award- well off back in Vietnam, scientist. ever work I do is balancing my ment was lettering his fresh-
ed the Rotary Club of Dallas- but some of them were Among her many academic time-management skills.” man year.
town-Red Lion’s November fortunate enough to have accomplishments, Sandra also Alex states his mother as not Tennis is not the only extra-
Student of the Month. found a way to America,” involves herself in the music only his number one support curricular that he partakes in,
Sandra is involved in a vari- she said. “My mother was world. system in everything that he he also enjoys playing in the
ety of activities, from marching one of them. She couldn’t She marches for the Red does, but as his role model as school’s guitar club. “I have
band to student council to just speak English and our Lion Marching Lions and has well. been playing guitar for about
recently, National Honor Soci- family did not have much been doing props for the musi- Alex has been involved in a year now and love playing
ety. money. She went to col- cal since freshman year. It is her Red Lion’s seminar program for mainly rock and indie genres,”
Her motivation to shine in lege to pursue a better fu- piano playing skills, however, years and meets with Mrs. Coz- said Alex.
everything that she does is ture despite the struggles that make her stand out the zens each morning before his One thing many may not
what makes her stand out. “I that she was facing. She’s most. For four years Sandra has AP Calculus class. In the future know about Alex, is that each
think the general key to being now a dental hygien- been taking lessons, and has Alex hopes to go to college and Wednesday, rain or shine, he
successful is finding the moti- ist. It is pretty amazing since passed the Pennsylvania study engineering. wakes up earlier than the rest
vation to strive for triumph,” how even through all the State Music Auditions at York Helping others is one of his of us to meet his friends at the
said Sandra. roadblocks, she accom- College twice. biggest passions. When he’s not flagpole outside of the com-
She cites her mother as not plished this much.” working hard in his AP Phys- mons. Why you ask? They all
only her role model, but her in- ics and AP Calculus classes, he gather to unify and pray togeth-
spends his time tutoring sopho- er. Alex states religion as a very
mores in chemistry. big part of his life. “God is good,”
He also uses his nine years of he says.

Ms. Vasellas comes home to the high school

ally a single moment when she
By: Alexcia Mckinely
knew she wanted to be a teach-
er. It was collectively apparent
over time and from the help of
her 5th, 9th, and 12th grade
teachers, she decided that
teaching is what she wanted to
do for the rest of her life.
“They made learning fun and
all around interesting. I waited
for the time when I would have
their classes because I enjoyed
them so much.” she said as she
smiled from the memory.
Growing up in Red Lion and
then later teaching in the same
town has its perks. “I’m able to
see the students I had 20 years
ago come to parent teacher
conferences for their own kids
who I now teach and I think
that is crazy!”
The most rewarding part of
being a teacher for her is “see-
Ms. Vasellas takes time in her seventh period Drama class to discuss their guest speaker, that came in to speak to them
about directing movies and filmography. The students commented on all that they learned from his speech and how it
ing when the lightbulb goes off
will help them in the future. in a student’s mind and they
became a substitute teacher at
the junior high.
After some time of being a
part-time substitute, she was
finally offered the job of being
a long term substitute and then
a tutor. In 2009, she was given
the position of teaching English
in a seventh grade class.
She taught seventh grade
English at the junior high from
2009 to 2016. After seven years
of teaching middle school she
was given the option to teach
at the high school level. She im-
mediately grabbed the oppor-
tunity.
She can easily say that when
having to choose between
teaching middle school or high
school, she would never hesi-
tate with teaching high school.
“They’re maturity level is a so
much higher than the junior
high kids,” she said.
In 10 years, she can see her-
self retired, living on her farm
with her grandchildren and
hopefully great grandchildren.
But most importantly, she will
still be living in Red Lion.
“It is where I grew up as a
child and was able to find my
career. I’ve had so many memo-
ries in this town, I couldn’t just
walk away from it all.”
She hopes to continue her
career until retirement, teach-
ing at the high school and
“helping child’s minds expand
to their fullest potential.”

Digital Media Xpress

When you ask an English “I wanted to be a music finally understand something.”
teacher if they always wanted teacher. I studied and took les- Her favorite memory as a
to have this particular career, sons for eight years, but the teacher is when she gets let- Need a movie made? Or a
most of them will answer “Of more advance pieces, the hard-
course I did. I knew since I was er it was for me to reach across
ters from her past students and picture photoshopped? Maybe
she is able to reminisce on all
little.” the piano. I love reading, so I the years she has taught at Red instrumental to a song?
But Ms. Vasellas is a little dif- went with English.” Lion.
ferent in that aspect. She didn’t In the midst of the cafeteria After attending MIllersville Contact: Sarah Michelle,
always want to be an English chaos, Ms. Vasellas took some University and receiving a specializing in media for 4 years
teacher. If she could have any time out of her busy schedule Bachelor’s in Secondary Edu-
other job in the world, she to answer a few questions. cation and majoring in English, email: mrbowtie1963@gmail.com or call: 717-323-5628
would become a music teacher. She says there was never re- she returned to Red Lion and