LFA welcomes new teachers to campus

LFA+welcomes+new+teachers+to+campus

Nate Koh, Managing Editor of Op-Ed

This academic year, Lake Forest Academy welcomed three new teachers in addition to the new  Head of School, Mr. De Jesus. While all of them work in different specialties – Mrs. De Jesus teaches English, Mr. Mpofue teaches History, and Ms. Vranas teaches Mathematics – they all chose LFA.
Not only did the new faculty members come in a variety of academic flavors, they also come from a wide range of backgrounds. Mr. Mpofue hails from Zimbabwe, and besides holding a Masters degree in International Relations ,he is also an accomplished soccer player. Ms. Vranas is a tennis coach as well.
With Ms. Vranas, at least, her adjustment to LFA was helped along by the students at the Academy. According to her, getting started was one of her favorite parts of the year so far. Having recently finished her M.A. in mathematics, getting used to the school – from the “super wonky” schedule to being a dorm parent – was helped along throughout the process by students.
Part of the reason that Ms. Vranas chose Lake Forest Academy was because she felt like it meshed well with her personally. So far, it has lived up to her expectations.
“Getting into the routine and everything [has been my favorite part of the year]. I was hired back in January so there was a big buildup and it’s nice to finally get into the swing of classes and get to know my students.”
She cites the helpful and cooperative environment as helping to ease her into the Academy and get used to the new environment. Along with the general assistance given by students, her position as coach of Girls Tennis has also given her opportunities to be more integrated into the community.
“The girls team has been super helpful, there’s a lot of random logistics things that you do as a coach here that I didn’t really know going in… …they’ve been super helpful [with that]. …Tennis is very, very individual and I’ve coached a lot of different teams and sometimes people are competing against each other throughout… …but everybody on the team is so nice to everybody so that’s been a pleasant surprise.”
LFA’s community is not only lucky to have the new faculty members, it should also be recognized that the entire school comes together to help get them adjusted to their new home. These three teachers might be new to the school, but they’re already part of the LFA family.