If you ask most adults if they would like to go back to high school, most of them would say no. However, these two staff members said yes. Julie Bogle, Secondary Activities Administrative Assistant, went to Horizon Honors for three years as a student and this is her first year as a staff member. Joshua Garrett, Freshman English teacher, went to this school for four years and is also in his first year as a staff member at Horizon Honors. They both say that they enjoyed their years at Horizon Honors as a student and are liking Horizon Honors as a staff member just as much.

Bogle originally went into youth ministry and really enjoyed the administrative side of planning and organizing all of the events and activities. In July of 2014, Bogle decided to apply to Horizon Honors. “I had some really great memories here as a student and I know that this is a great place to teach students great values as well as just getting them prepared for the next stage of life,” Bogle said. She confesses that she was an introvert in high school and stuck with the same group of friends. Bogle even tries to dress in the student dress code to set a good example, even though the staff dress code is a little different. “I do [enjoy being a staff member]. It’s been really interesting adjusting to having some of my old teachers as now coworkers and friends, and that’s really nice and fun,” she explains. As a student, Bogle participated in Travel Club and got to go to Boston and New York, was on the volleyball team, and helped with different activities. Bogle states, “Everybody’s been so great and welcoming and very helpful.”

Garrett went to school for theater and creative writing, but always considered himself good at leading and teaching. He didn’t plan on teaching as a career right away, but possibly as a later option. He decided, however, that he wanted a break from playwriting and went into this career path. Garrett says that he likes working at Horizon Honors and that he has “really great students who are interested in learning and that makes all the difference.” He admits that it is still a little weird to be working at the same place he went to school after the first few weeks, but likes to get to know his past teachers in a new way. In school, Garrett was in many school plays including The Canterville Ghost, Once Upon a Mattress (the school’s very first musical), and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, to name a few. Through the plays, he says that he met a lot of friends and it helped him “open up and be more energetic and just more engaged with the people around me.” Garrett says, “I learned so much from Mrs. Shaheen and all the people involved [in the plays].” He also played the alto saxaphone in Symphonic Band, sang in Cantabile Honors Chorale, was a member of National Honors Society, served as president of student council for two years, and was even a member of Journalism back when it was a club.
These two staff members seem to have one thing in common – they loved Horizon Honors as a student so much they wanted to come back and help. Some advice from Bogle for this upcoming year is to communicate with your teachers on how to succeed and not to sweat the small things, and Garrett suggests that you communicate with each other and your teachers, be open to taking risks, learn new things, and not to be afraid of surprising yourself. You can be sure that 2014-2015 will be a great school year with staff like this to help Horizon Honors’ students.