BY MAYELA BROWN
West Side Story welcomes a new staff member of West High School! Her name is Sydney Terry. She is a new Algebra I math teacher for West. She was born in Bulls Gap Tennessee. Her mom and grandfather are the ones who inspired her to be a teacher. Terry went to the University of Alabama and she remarked, “ Alabama schools are very different from Tennessee schools and in my experiences, so it was definitely a learning curve to get used to how they do things. Student teaching was kind of crazy! We went home for Spring Break and then never went back to school. I was very sad I didn't get to say bye to my sweet kids, but they were so excited to be able to follow my TikTok since I wasn't their student teacher anymore.”
This year is Terry’s first year of teaching at West High. She likes it for many reasons. She shared, “West High is full of some of the best people I know and definitely some of the best math teachers I've ever had. I knew it would be a great place where I would be supported and have the opportunity to learn from the best!” Terry has also said that West High has a great community of teachers, and she has never felt so welcomed, encouraged, and supported.
Terry enjoys teaching because she said “ Giving kids the opportunity to learn and trying to find new ways to help make the math make sense to them. Math can seem scary to a lot of kids, but I like to show them it's more than just memorizing formulas and steps.” Terry's mother Suzanne Terry also teaches speech and debate at West High.
Terry’s hobbies are baking and binge watching Netflix series. Her favorite food is called Gooey fries from Baumhower’s in Alabama.