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A NEW teacher has joined the Drama and English departments at Bega High School.
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Mika Appleton started teaching there on Wednesday, and her classes will be Years 7, 8, 11 and 12 in English as well as Year 9 in Drama.
“I couldn’t believe I got sent to Bega,” she said.
“I’m so lucky, it’s such a beautiful place, with lovely people and it’s still kind of central as well.
“Right now I’m just getting started, getting to know the students and getting my bearings.
“All the teachers here have been really lovely and welcoming,” Ms Appleton said.
She has previously worked at Asquith Girls High School and Narrabeen Sports High School.
Two weeks ago she was told she had got the job at Bega High, so moved to the Valley from Sydney.
The transition from teaching in a metropolitan area to a rural one is to be a change for her.
“The whole aspect of familiarity is going to be a big change for me, like just walking down the street and running into parents or students,” she said.
“In the city, once you go out of your work you can leave it all behind.
“But I’m excited about this aspect as well.”
Teaching was a vocational calling for Ms Appleton.
“Teaching was something I think I was always going to do,” she said.
“I was running youth theatre in early to late high school, and it dawned on me one day that this was something I could keep doing for a living.”
Bega High’s head teacher of English, Doug Whitaker, welcomed the addition of Ms Appleton to the teaching staff.
“It’s fantastic to have such a new and exciting fresh face,” he said.
He mentioned the great work teachers Mark Friend, Peta Relton and Michelle Basili had been doing in pushing Drama at the school, and said Ms Appleton would continue to bring in successes in that department.
It is the first year Mr Whitaker has performed head teacher of English duties, and he said the faculty had been very welcoming to him and he was “looking towards a very positive future, going forwards”.
Ms Appleton described herself as a “club and hobby addict” and looked forward to joining a local surf club, theatre group, sports club and more.