Niles West staff, teachers, administrators, and everyone in between make not only the school, but the world go round. Without them, our school would be positively lost, and these crucial members of our school environment don’t receive enough recognition, so on Friday, May 10, Niles West’s official Staff Appreciation Day will take place.

The staff at Niles West have many opportunities to impact the lives of students, and many have done just that. Sophomore Jianne Gangan immediately thought of Chinese teacher Wileen Hsing when asked about who she would like to recognize on this day.

“She [Hsing] establishes a good relationship with all of her students. She also can be funny sometimes, and her cringe jokes do make me laugh. Her Chinese memes are also okay,” Gangan said.

Staff members at West have unique relationships with students that can last for ages, even after high school is over. Many staff members don’t know to what extent they are influencing some students, but these little moments can be life changing for some, and unforgettable for many.

For students like Gangan, she chose a staff member with whom she has an established relationship with, but others like junior Stefi Spasojevic thought of staff member who made their high school lives a little easier.

“I really appreciate Mrs. Jukic because she helped me a lot when I had a class with her and she’s just a nice person in general. She made math enjoyable and fun for me, and I miss having her as a teacher,” Spasojevic said.

Students see their teachers just about daily, omitting weekends, and their presence during the course of students careers are overlooked, even though they play big roles in the lives of our student body. Teachers have the ability to give students a great high school experience, and our staff does a great job of doing the best that they can to achieve this goal.

Junior Majila Spahija had a few exceptional teachers to choose from, but she ultimately decided on recognizing physical education teacher Mario Faso.

“One of my favorite teachers would have to be Mr. Faso because he is always so funny and his jokes used to make me cry of laughter during PE,” Spahija said.

Make sure you thank your teachers and any other staff members during the school day.