Mr. Seekford is history.  For all of his loyal students, his time at Lake Mary is coming to an end.  Like the Roman Empire, he will soon be gone. We spent a few moments with one of the best teachers at Lake Mary to see why he is abandoning us.

Q: What did you like best about your Lake Mary experience?

“Honestly, my favorite thing about Lake Mary was that I was welcomed by both the staff and the students as an actual teacher and not just as a sub.”

Q: What are you looking forward to most at your new job?

“The thing that I am looking forward to most at my new job is the chance to have my own classroom to set up as I want. I am looking forward to this because as a sub I am always in someone else’s class and I can’t change their stuff to fit my likes, dislikes, and personality.”

Q: What do you think makes Lake Mary unique?

“I think something that makes Lake Mary unique is the fact that both the students and teachers have so much school spirit, and all of the games and events are so fun because of it.”

Q: What has been your biggest challenge as being a long term sub this year?

“My biggest challenge has been finding the right balance between being a good and strict teacher but also being friendly and approachable. This is because you want people to respect you and not let yourself get walked all over on, but you also want everyone to like you.”

Q: Why did you choose history to teach? 

“I’ve always loved history and when growing up I had good and bad teachers, and the ones who made it fun are the ones that I learned from the most. Therefore, because I love sharing my love with other people by teaching to make it easy and fun for them to learn. Another thing that I find interesting about history is that history can almost predict what will happen in the future because history tends to repeat itself.”

Q: What advice would you give to Mrs. Furiosi regarding your classes as she comes back from maternity leave to reclaim her spot as the teacher?

“I would tell her that she will have a great year because she has so many great students in her classes and I haven’t had any issues with any of them.”

Q: What will you miss most about teaching at Lake Mary?

“What I will miss most is all of the kids that I was able to build relationships with. This is because I feel like when I came here I adopted 150 kids and I know all of their likes, personalities, and dislikes. I am so sad that I have to leave them.”

On top of the interview we did with Mr. Seekford, we also interviewed some of his students to see how they feel about him leaving. Ethan Tigwell said, “I am very sad that he is leaving and I will miss having him as my teacher.” Another student named Mariam Gabrielyan said, “I am going to be very sad when he leaves because he is my favorite teacher. What I will miss most about him is how nice he was to everyone. My favorite memory of him is when we made paper origami’s during class.” These two students were just some of the many students who are very sad about him leaving.

Even as Mr. Seekford leaves the walls of Lake Mary High School, his impact will still remain on all the students he taught in these short couple of months. As he leaves, Mrs. Furiosi will be returning from her maternity leave to take back her spot as the teacher. We all know that she will be an amazing teacher and are excited to have her back in the classroom, but what we also know is that she has some big shoes to fill.