By Aadeetri Pandey
Capybaras are the world’s largest rodents that are native to South America. Willis Hall now has a few ourselves in the form of plushies in Autumn Coleman’s class. Coleman first saw a capybara when she went to study abroad in Mendoza, Argentina, and ever since then she has loved them.  
     Coleman is the new Spanish teacher. She recently earned degrees in education and Spanish from Roanoke College and then went to be an assistant teacher at Glenvar middle school. She was born and raised in Roanoke and went to Salem High School.
     She is excited to be teaching in the Upper School and is impressed with her student’s Spanish speaking abilities. She doesn’t have a favorite class because she enjoys the different subjects they have discussed so far. In comparison to her middle school students she feels as if they can have more deep and impactful conversations while also being on topic. 
     Coleman didn’t always want to be a Spanish teacher. When she first went to college she hoped to be an English teacher. While many of her professors said she should minor in Spanish, it wasn’t until she talked to one of her teachers that they convinced her to major in Spanish. She hopes that one day she can go back to school to get her master’s degree. 
     While Coleman isn’t a native Spanish speaker it has been a big part of her life. She first started to learn Spanish in sixth grade. It wasn’t till she went to college she realized that she truly loved the language. A lot of her close friends she met during studies abroad don’t speak English and she wouldn’t have met them if she never learned the language. 
     “My host mom spoke no English. And I adore her. I miss her. I still talk to her. And if I didn’t speak Spanish, I wouldn’t be able to communicate at all with her,” Coleman said. “So those relationships are really special.”
     She hopes to continue being able to teach in North Cross but understands if she can’t. She says her welcome to North Cross has been very positive and is excited to see how the rest of the year plays out.  
     “I love it here,” Coleman said. “Have you ever had that feeling when you go into a room or a new place and you kind of feel like the oddball out? I have not felt that way at all here. That’s great. It’s been really enjoyable. The faculty has welcomed me with open arms. They treat me like I’ve been their friend for a long time.”

By Aadeetri Pandey

Most kids think AP Physics is the hardest class anyone can take in high school but Bach 'Jason' Phan ‘25 loves it. 
Most commonly known by his peers as Jason, he explains that  while physics is a hard class, the physics teacher, Dr. Tim Naginey, helps explain it in such a way it is easier for him to understand. 
Jason is Vietnamese born and raised. When he was younger he went to an English speaking kindergarten because he was adept at the language at a young age. It wasn’t as difficult for him to learn English. This doesn’t mean he didn’t face a language barrier when coming to the United States. 
“It’s really tough for me when I first was here,“ Jason said,” because people were speaking faster than I can hear.” 
He does later on explain that just listening to how people speak here has helped him a lot with his English. In total Jason speaks three languages: Vietnamese, English, and Mandarin Chinese. 
In terms of differences, Jason thinks the way the classes are set up is the biggest. In Willis Hall and most other high schools in America students switch class by class. In Vietnam and some other countries in Asia the student will sit in one class while the different teachers come into the class to teach, then leave. 
He went to Washington D.C. to visit his aunt for Thanksgiving. This was his first all American holiday. While he did enjoy spending time with his family he also liked the food. He said his favorite was the turkey. 
Jason has had a positive experience with the Boxley Building, the dorm building for North Cross. “I adore my dorm; it’s excellent and equipped with all necessities,” Jason said in an email. “The community is both diverse and welcoming.”
Jason found North Cross through an agency that helps students find schools for them. The one he used was ILU education Vietnam. They are relatively new, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t good. Agencies make finding schools for students who plan to study abroad a lot easier  because they do all the work of finding and researching schools. 
“When I was young, my dream was to study in the United States. I was chasing my dream, looking for some ways to study abroad, it kept bringing me here, [to] North Cross School.” After graduating from North Cross Bach Phan, plans to continue studying abroad in an American university.