This year at Fraser High School there have been four new teachers hired. Three of the teachers are new faces to students, and one is a student teacher returning from last year. Tim Closs is the new Engine Tech teacher, Ed Skowneski, a returning student teacher from last year who teaches history, Kelly Harris, a new 9 th and 10 th grade English teacher, and Matt Tootalian, an English 10 and 12 teacher. They all seem very enthusiastic to be teaching at Fraser. In Engine Technology there was no teacher for two weeks; Closs came in and everything went back to normal. It was difficult for him coming in two weeks into school, instead of starting to teach on the first day. He handled the situation very professionally and started off well at Fraser. Closs went to Central Michigan University and majored in industrial education. He said he was adapting to full time teaching by training in technology and trying to peak students’ interest in the industrial arts. If he wasn’t a teacher he said he would be working in industry, probably doing an engineering job like he did in the past. His academic background consisted of attending St. Clair high school and swimming for their varsity swim team. Closs is married with two children, a seventeen month old and a two year old. Tootalian, a young man just coming out of college, is now an English teacher at Fraser. He went to Western Michigan University and double majored in English and History. He went to Troy Athens and didn’t play any sports but claimed to be a band nerd. Tootalian went to high school with a colleague at Fraser High school, Katlyn Witt, which is how he heard about this position. He is really into music. His favorite artist is Bruce Springsteen and he likes everything from Frank Zappa to Jimi Hendrix, and Neil Young. “I like everything besides popular country, not a fan of Keith Urban or Kenny Chesney,” said Tootalian. Tootalian’s favorite thing about Fraser is the English staff. He is very glad he got the job teaching English because he really adores working with them. If he wasn’t a teacher, he would be an author, but he really enjoys with kids. Something that intrigued him about Fraser was the Performing Arts Academy. He noticed other schools were cutting that program while Dr. Lonze and the Board of Education is giving money to the Performing Arts center. This really hooked him on coming to Fraser. Harris is another new English teacher at Fraser. She went to U of M Dearborn and majored in English. Harris went to Livonia Stevenson high school and played volleyball, basketball and ran track. In her spare time, she likes to read, shop, and work on her house. “I’ve taught before, but I just keep my eyes open and use the resources I have,” Harris responded. She was a teacher at Centerline, so she has had experience in the classroom before. If she wasn’t a teacher, she doesn’t know what she would be doing, but she has always wanted to be a mortician. The reason she didn’t strive to be a mortician is because she said she couldn’t handle the idea of touching a dead body. Harris said she knew Fraser was a lot bigger than where she worked before, which was Centerline. She went to college with Chris Stanley and knew that his explanations about Fraser were really good. “Fraser’s vision was very clear that they knew their goals,” Harris stated. Skowneski is a former state champion wrestler and football player for the Chippewa Big Reds in 2004 where he was the quarterback. He was the student teacher last year for Melissa Rumminger and taught History. He majored in Economics at Michigan State, then education and social studies at Saginaw Valley. To get his teaching position, he became extremely involved in Fraser last year, which allowed him the opportunity to meet a lot of people. When asked about his hobbies, Skowneski said, “Just coaching, and playing video games; I like Call of Duty.” He is the Junior Varsity Football coach and Track coach for Fraser. If he wasn’t a teacher, he would be working at his old job at a financial services company. Now, he feels like he knows the culture, students, teachers and what kind of environment Fraser High School is. The school year is off to a great start for these four teachers and they also look forward and they look forward to the years to come, and hope to be a big part of the Fraser Family