Down in the first classroom in the history hallway Spartans are loving their new US and AP US History teacher Dr. Cynthia Szwajkowski.

Szwajkowski is new to the school, but by no means new to either history or teaching. Her Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD degrees are all in history. She has been teaching US History and US Government for the past 35 years in the Fairfax County Public School system.

Recently, Szwajkowski led a federal grant program which worked with teachers to give them practical experience in history. The program was designed to instruct and observe K-12 teachers in settings such as museums and historical sites. Last year, she left the program to work at Fairfax High, teaching AP US Government and World History. And this year, she’s here at WS—hopefully to stay.

“She’s a really outgoing teacher. She keeps the class fun and interesting,” said junior Katelyn Lovan.

Szwajkowski has settled in well. Beyond the warming aspects (she’s covered the classroom walls with countless posters, including a huge Constitution replica) anyone can see she has already formed good relationships with her students, as well as the teachers she works with.

“She is a great leader and a wonderful person to work with; we all really like her. She’s a good department chair and an excellent teacher. We’re very happy to have her in our department,” said World History teacher Cathleen Boivin.

The experience of coming to a new school has its good and bad points. It can be inspiring to be exposed to new students and new ideas, but for Szwajkowski, it does take some time to establish a procedure and determine which teaching strategies are best to help students.            Luckily, this transition was easier for Szwajkowski because of a welcoming school community.