With the new school year starting at Central, there are new faces all around. Other than the freshmen and new students, there are new staff members at Central. With the school’s familiar faces returning, there are some teachers who are teaching at Billings Central for the first time. It can be exciting to start a new journey with new faces.
One of these new faces is Meg Rude, the new sophomore English teacher who also teaches creative writing. She has taught at Central before as she taught with the school up until 2017. She decided to come back 7 years later to pick up where she left off and start up her teaching career again, after focusing on her three little kids back at home. Mrs. Rude is getting back into the swing of things after the first few weeks of school. It is never easy to start the school year as a new teacher, even if you have been here before. Mrs. Rude stated, “The beginning of the year is always a bit of a sprint,” but she still manages to roll with the punches of high school, which can always seem chaotic in the first month. Mrs. Rude hopes to leave a mark on her students as well. She stated, “I hope to help my students understand and realize that they have important things to say and contribute to the larger conversations around them.” She wants her students to understand the importance of their contribution to the class. She also has a lot of faith in her students, adding, “I want them to know that they are writers already… they just may not believe it yet.” Mrs. Rude shows a lot of optimism when it comes to her students, and she wants to believe in them when they may not believe in themselves.
Along with the arrival of new teachers comes of new classes. Some of these classes include creative writing, public speaking, AP Language, and more. Porter Stevens, a Junior at Central, is in two of those new classes being taught this year AP Language, and creative writing. He commented, “I feel like this year people have a lot more choices for classes than in past years.” Porter Stevens illustrated how there is more of a variety of classes students get to choose from this year to build their schedule. In recent years at Central, more and more classes have been introduced to the Central staff and students. This has provided a wider range of topics a student can choose to study. With new teachers and new classes being introduced this year, the school is starting to see new opportunities in the expansion of classes. Students can also change their typical schedule to a new set of classes that make their school life more entertaining and fresh.
