What school did you go to?
I went to Royall Middle and High [School]. It combined [students from] Elroy, Mo. and Kendall, Mo., so that’s [the name] they came up with for the school.
How was...
Social studies teacher Amy Thornhill knows that current events play a major role in the topics she teaches in her classes. Thornhill constantly updates lesson plans to fit the news around the globe because...
Too much time spent without music often kills the desire to play, but social studies teacher Aaron Bashirian did not lose interest. Instead, the rockstar-gone-teacher stayed in touch with his desire to...
As thousands of Missourians prepare to vote for the 2022 midterms, 18-year-old students have the opportunity to join them.
With midterm elections on Nov. 8, the deadline to register to vote is Oct....
African-American history is American history. There is no doubt that our curriculum, and even the way we interpret the past, does not reflect that truth or even a mere semblance of it. The teaching of...
When West’s newest social studies teacher, Aaron Bashirian, graduated from college and got his degree in history, it would be almost two decades before he got to use it. Instead, Bashirian pursued his...
Dani Fischer, MANAGING EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
• December 8, 2018
Standing in the main foyer surrounded by 3,768 cans of food, social studies teachers Jeffrey Chazen and Annie Wayland direct students on how to stack the remaining cases. The next morning, volunteers from...
For 10 years, the Social Studies Department has donated to COC, but Wayland and Chazen added a twist when they made the donations a competition four years ago.
![Social studies teacher Aaron Bashirian smiles in front of his classroom. Bashirian didn’t know he wanted to be a teacher from early on, but he found the choice to be a good one. “I started [teaching] because there was an opportunity for me to experiment with it. Fortunately, [teaching] was a good choice. In 2012, I became a teacher at Parkway at the Alternative Discipline Center, which is where they send suspended kids to keep being educated if they choose. I spent six years there and then I got drafted to West, [where] I've been for about six years,” Bashirian said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Untitled-35-1200x800.jpg)
![Social studies teacher Amy Thornhill writes her daily class agenda in front of the whiteboard. Thornhill teaches AP Human Geography, World History and Psychology and has witnessed difficulty for students to form an opinion recently in all of these classes. “Everyone's opinion is valid. Everyone's opinion is justified. But [when] you have so many opinions. It's hard for kids to figure out their [own]. Those are the things I try to articulate and get kids to understand,” Thornhill said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/unnamed-e1685623545392.jpg)
![Eyes and ruler fixed towards the screen, social studies teacher Aaron Bashirian points to his Smartboard and explains the history behind his barn. Having learned the ropes of carpentry, Bashirian made structural changes to the barn by himself over the past three years. “It’s not your normal barn, but it’s cool, though. It’s got quite a bit of history to it,” Bashirian said. “It used to be a carriage house; you can see where they used to keep the horse. There’s still a grain [and] hay shoot [too]. They parked Model T-style cars [that created] all these oil slicks on the floor where they leaked. You can see that there’s a lot of history in there. I love it, [it’s a] perfect building for a history guy. ”](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/gvhgvgj-1-900x643.jpg)
![History teacher Aaron Bashirian plays a gig at a local fair in his hometown of Elroy, Wis. July 1998. “I would say [my music] is pop-y,” Bashirian said. “It’s a happy-go-lucky sort of pop. There are some rock elements to it but it really is just feel good, fun music.”](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Mr.-B-Photo-001-900x600.jpg)
![The gingerbread contest was held in the cafeteria on Thursday, Dec. 17 [Gwenn Pietrowski, 12]](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/norah-gingerbread-900x600.jpg)
