One of the new faces the student body will be seeing around the school this year is first year teacher Christian Burks.

Burks grew up in Waynesboro, Virginia. He graduated high school from there, and is a graduated from James Madison University. This is not his first teaching gig.

“I taught at South for two years,” said Burks. “Now I’m teaching here.”

As for knowing when he wanted to pursue teaching as a career, his former teachers had an influence.

“My high school teacher had cancer, and his sub didn’t really know how to teach choral, so he’d kind of handed it over to me; that’s when I knew,” said Burks.

Burks looks ahead when it comes to the vitality of teaching the youth.

“It sets us up for a better future; teachers are the present, kids are the future,” said Burks. “I want students to have just as good if better education than I received.”

As all teachers, Burks hopes to take his pupils beyond the criteria required by the school.

“I love the process of getting students from point A to C; I like to witness their development overtime while developing those relationships,” said Burks.

The one thing that he enjoys the most by far about his jobs: the students.

“Students are what get me up everyday for my job,” said Burks.

Although the chorus teacher, Burks says he would not mind teaching another subject. If he could teach another, he says he would like to be active.

“[I would teach] P.E. because I enjoy sports and physical activity, and I believe general health is an issue in America,” Burks said.

Where Burks hopes to go with teaching, he is not fully sure yet, but he is not looking into it at the moment.

“Right now, I’m happy; it’s not where I want to go, it’s how I want to develop my career here,” said Burk.