Becky Mazzara takes over as NHS adviser
November 16, 2016
National Honor Society is one of the most prominent school clubs, as well as at thousands of other schools across the nation. NHS club adviser Chris Engler has stepped down as the teacher adviser and Becky Mazzara, a newly hired American Sign Language teacher, has begun to fulfill the role.
Mazzara has been around the school quite a while. As an alumni herself, she substitutes for multiple classes and has a son who attends the school. Because of this, she’s gotten to know many students and teachers alike.
Engler, World History teacher and the previous NHS adviser of 12 years, decided to retire his role as adviser due to his schedule at the end of last year.
“I’m teaching a new class, and then my wife took a new job. Originally it was thought that she would be traveling, and I have a daughter that’s a sophomore, so one of us would need to be home,” Engler said.
With his resignation, Mazzara has volunteered her time and commitment to be the adviser for years to come.
“I was…homecoming adviser, and a couple of the homecoming students that I was working with…said ‘You know what? We need a new NHS adviser. You should look into that.’ So I did, I looked into it, and then here I am. And I went and talked to Chris Engler about ‘Should I do this? Is this something I want to do?’ So far it’s been a really nice fit,” Mazzara said.
Camryn Davis, senior and current NHS president, believes while Mazzara’s induction has been slightly rocky, it will pick up as the year progresses.
“She definitely has [fulfilled the role], but we’re still kind of in transition mode. I still have to go to Mr. Engler sometimes because he’s kind of training her in right now, but the officers have met with her a couple times so far and she seems to know what’s going on, so that’s good,” Davis said.
Engler has put in many hours to train Mazzara in, and for that she is thankful for the help that she has received.
“He’s basically laid out the groundwork for me. He’s made it a lot easier. He’s given me a ton of information, and a ton of his time. And I know that he does it anyway with NHS, but…he clarified a lot of questions, and he has been very open about the things I’m going to have to learn, and the things that are going to be more difficult, and some of the challenges that he’s had. He’s just been very…kind and honest. And he’s done it for a long time,” Mazzara said.
Engler thinks Mazzara can use all the training she can get, since he had such in-depth training before he became NHS adviser.
“When I took over, I’d [been] almost ten years into it, so I kind of knew what was going on. So for her, I need to do a good job of explaining things to her. Luckily we have just great officers, so they’ll be extremely helpful to her,” Engler said.
Davis is just as appreciative but is also excited and ready for the change.
“Mr. Engler is much more composed, and a little more serious, but also that can be a good thing. I think Becky is a little more approachable, and she gets really passionate about certain things. If she has an idea, she’ll bring it up, and she’ll definitely follow through, and I saw that with Student Council too, but Mr. Engler has been a really awesome adviser, and really reliable, and a great person,” Davis said.
Although being NHS adviser is so time-consuming, Mazzara is looking forward to the responsibilities it will bring for both herself and the NHS students.
“I’m really excited for Coffeehouse. I can’t wait to be a part of that. I know it’s a lot of work, but I keep thinking that if I have to work too hard, then I’m not doing the advising job right, because the students should be the ones who are really involved. I should more be…backstage,” Mazzara said.
Mazzara has been so impressed by the NHS students thus far that she’s begun to form relationships with them.
“These NHS kids are amazing. I mean they’re not only all super academically smart, but they’ve got such great common sense and they’ve got such good goals and morals. They’re academically great, they’re athletically involved, they’re involved with their school community, they’re involved in their home community. They just have so much to offer. They’re just such great, great kids, and that’s what I’m loving,” Mazzara said.
Growing up in Stillwater and being an SAHS alumni, Mazzara is excited to begin teaching full time for ASL classes beginning in January, as well as taking on the complete role as NHS adviser.
“Just being part of the education community [is the best part], and…I’ve subbed in other districts and so far wherever else I’ve been this still feels like home,” Mazzara said.
Max Korth • Jan 18, 2017 at 8:25 am
Really well written, gave a lot of in depth information about the former NHS leader and how Becky will take on the role and how her relationships with many of the students and teachers have effected her.
Hannah Drake • Nov 28, 2016 at 1:13 pm
Great in-depth quotes from Mazzara! I can really get a feel for her personality from reading this article. It shows why she wanted to be the NHS advisor and how much she cares for education adn the students.
McKenzie Bohlig • Nov 22, 2016 at 9:07 pm
The positive descriptions and quotes really pulled the article together. Getting quotes from Mr. Engler was a smart move and also getting the thoughts of the president of the club on the transition really added to the article. The overall positive attitude of the quotes grabs and holds readers attention to the article, especially because switching advisors is a difficult, and one could imagine, very frustrating situation at times.
Hailey Buelow • Nov 22, 2016 at 7:54 pm
This was a well-written article, it flowed nicely, the quotes represented her well and pulled the whole story together, and was interesting to read. You showed her personally nicely and was overall a great story!
Katie Freichels • Nov 22, 2016 at 6:52 pm
You captured who Mrs. Mazzara was perfectly with quotes and description. It looks like you put a lot of research into the article to provide the best information you could. The article was very smooth, having everything you wrote in just the right places.
Hannah Larson • Nov 22, 2016 at 1:11 pm
I love how you wrote this article. You showed who Ms. Mazzara is and her personality very well. All of your quotes were informative and all made sense with each other!
Ava Dejonge • Nov 22, 2016 at 12:47 pm
I love this article! This article perfectly represents Becky Mazzara’s Character and her love of this community. I like how easy and free flowing this article is to read. I also like how much research you have put into this article to give us more background information.
McKenna Wohlers • Nov 17, 2016 at 7:33 pm
This article was very interesting. You had very nice flow with the facts and quotes. I liked how you had some good research about Becky Mazzara and quotes she said. I really liked how you ended the article with a quote by here, it was the perfect way to end it. I choose this article because being a member of NHS I wanted to see how she was going to accomplish this role and why she wanted to do it. It was very interesting that she has been part of the Stillwater community for along time and that she wants to still be apart of it and help out. I agree with Camryn that it was a little bumpy and might be for a little bit more, but I can tell Becky really cares for this club and really wants to work hard to help us all out!