New 19-year-old WCPS teacher takes on 4th grade at A.S. Rhodes

FRONT ROYAL – First-year teacher Alexis Stiles, 19, on Monday successfully concluded her first day as a Warren County Public Schools (WCPS) educator and faces only 180 more days of instruction for the 2018-2019 school year.

The Front Royal native — who’s also taking graduate classes, coaching a competitive gymnastics team, ‘adventuring’ with friends during down time, and maintaining the Stephens City house she bought earlier this year — doesn’t appear fazed by the looming June 6, 2019 last-day-of-school date. She’s got this.

“I really liked how excited they are to have me this year as their teacher,” said Stiles about her 18 students at A.S. Rhodes Elementary School, many of whom she taught last year as an instructional assistant. “That like never happens to people.”

After graduating early from Skyline High School to attend Lord Fairfax Community College (LFCC), Stiles started working for WCPS as a substitute teacher two years ago before moving into a full-time position at Rhodes during the 2017-2018 school year.

“And this year I’m a full-time, fourth-grade teacher!” she said excitedly.

The breakneck speed at which Stiles simultaneously completed high school academics with a GPA above 3.8 continued at LFCC, where she earned an associate degree in business administration and education, and then at the online Western Governors University (WGU), graduating in June with a bachelor’s degree in educational studies.

“When I started WGU in July of 2017, I only had 37 percent of my degree done,” Stiles explained. “So, I took six classes from July to December 2017, and then from January to May this year, I completed 18 credits.

“And I was working 60 hours a week at Rhodes, and I was a gymnastics coach” for three different competition teams based in Winchester, “and doing crazy amounts of school.” Stiles said.

During her last semester at WGU, Stiles also had to complete 75 hours of classroom observation, which she squeezed in during lunch breaks while working at Rhodes. “I didn’t get enough sleep; maybe five hours a night. Sometimes less,” she said. “But I did it.”

Stiles currently is working toward a master’s degree in business administration at WGU. “I would like to be a gymnastics gym owner while teaching and then once my gym is up and running really well, then I want to become a principal,” said the former competitive gymnast who now coaches one 10-girl competitive gymnastics team three days a week at East Coast Gymnastics and Cheer in Winchester.

“I don’t see why I’d change my mind about taking the principal route, but I am still really young,” she said.

Her future also will entail obtaining a PhD in leadership administration, Stile said, “but you have to be teaching three to five years before you can start your doctorate.”

Her energy to excel isn’t lost on WCPS Superintendent Greg Drescher.

“Alexis is ready to be a teacher,” Drescher told the Royal Examiner on Tuesday. “I am impressed with her willingness to put in the effort that it takes to complete a task. She is definitely driven to get things done. I look forward to seeing her impart this attribute to the students she teaches.”

Drescher also doesn’t ignore the fact that Stiles is 19-years-old, technically considered a teenager before her next birthday on Aug. 26.
“Alexis is probably the youngest teacher I remember us hiring,” he wrote in an email. “Occasionally we will have a 21 or 22-year-old who graduated a year early from college, but most are 23-years-old by the time they graduate.”

In fact, during the recent WCPS teacher orientation trainings, Stiles said of the 76 new teachers in attendance, she was the only one under the age of 21.

“Alexis shows us that there are different paths to getting to the goal of being a teacher,” Drescher added. “There is nothing wrong with fast tracking schooling to meet a goal, just like there is nothing wrong with taking the more traditional route. I believe both routes can meet success.”

Successful first day of school year 2018-2019 for new WCPS teacher, 19-year-old Alexis Stiles.

Lori Layman, principal at A.S. Rhodes Elementary School, agreed, pointing out that when Stiles joined the Rhodes staff last year as an instructional assistant, “she quickly developed positive relationships with students and families.”

“She could be found every morning last year greeting students by name in our car drop-off lane,” Layman told the Royal Examiner. “Students and parents alike appreciated the positive energy she displayed every morning.”

Layman said Stiles worked with several veteran Rhodes’ teachers during school year 2017-18 and has adapted many of their strategies to create her own teaching style.

“She is motivated to do her best for herself, her students and our school,” the principal said. “I’m looking forward to helping her grow as a teacher.”

Stiles, who currently holds a Virginia provisional teaching license for a year while she completes state teacher certification exams, admitted that she is, has been, and always will be a perfectionist. “I always strive for more,” said Stiles, also a state-awarded college gymnast, as well as the recipient of several higher education academic awards and scholarships.

“I don’t go into things to just do them. I go into things to do them to the best of my ability,” she added.

It’s an attitude that Mandy Mcandrew-Van Fossen, owner of East Coast Gymnastics and Cheer, has seen Stiles perfect for years.

“I started coaching Alexis when she was in elementary school. She’s always came to practice with a smile on her face and ready to learn,” said Mcandrew-Van Fossen. “She worked really hard and tried her best at all times.”

In fact, she doesn’t think it’s surprising that Stiles “went above and beyond to graduate two years early and achieve a teaching career at an early age.”

Alexis Stiles, grade 4 teacher, A.S. Rhodes Elementary School. List of classroom expectations for students.

What does Stiles possess that sets her apart? When asked to pick five adjectives to describe herself, without hesitation the beauty pageant contender said: “ambitious, motivated, hardworking, and definitely positive and caring.”

Stiles attributes her work ethic to her dad, who manages Penske Truck Rental in Manassas, Va., while her caring and loving traits are due to her stay-at-home mom, a former registered nurse.

Those traits likely will serve Stiles well this school year.

Already she thinks that fourth graders are fun kids to be around. “They’re easy to talk to because they’re mature and I have a very mature group of kids I’m very excited about,” she said.

“I can conduct independent or full group work and they’re engaged, which is harder to do in lower grades” because younger students get more easily distracted, Stiles added. “And then when they get too old, they definitely don’t want to listen to you. Fourth grade is an amazing age.”

There are a couple of challenges she’s foresees this school year. “There’s a lot to cover in a short amount of time so I need to make sure I prepare my lessons as well as possible to make sure all of the curriculum is covered before the SOLs,” Stiles said, adding that Virginia students must take three Standards of Learning (SOL) tests in fourth grade — it’s a lot of work for them, she said.

Stiles also said she’ll be challenged to consistently think about how the students think as she devises those lesson plans. “I always performed extremely well in school so as I write these lesson plans, I am constantly thinking and reassessing what I have written to myself to double check, ‘will fourth graders understand this?’”

All of Stiles’ hard work and press to fast track her teaching career are due to her love for children.

“They’re why I do it,” she said. “For the longest time I’ve wanted to be a teacher. I want every kid to know that they’re important.”

Alexis Stiles with the classroom library she built with her own money, A.S. Rhodes Elementary School.