By NISHI SHAH, junior

“A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.” This, along with various other proverbs, can be seen on Post-it notes all over the office of Mrs. Sideris, the new English Supervisor. Because she loved children so much, Mrs. Sideris considered becoming a pediatrician, but after discovering the amount of math involved in the career, she decided to follow her other passion and major in English to become a teacher. She attended Rutgers for an undergraduate degree in English Literature with a dual minor in Creative Writing and Greek Literature and a graduate degree in English Education. She also received another graduate degree from NJ Excel.

Ms. Sideris has worked in the Edison school district for a fair amount of time. Before becoming an English Supervisor, Mrs. Sideris taught at Edison High School for twelve years. Now that she has arrived at JP Stevens, Mrs. Sideris feels that she can be a valuable influence on English teachers and is excited to work with the department. After all, “[her] Eagle roots have prepared [her] to fly high as a Hawk.”

In her free time, Mrs. Sideris enjoys practicing yoga and pilates, cooking, and biking with her three boys. She also loves reading and writing. She enjoys reading the works of Margaret Atwood, Chuck Palahniuk, David Sedaris, and others.

Mrs. Sideris says that she loves the staff and students at JP and that the school is very fortunate to have the influence of someone like Ms. Pawlikowski. One piece of advice that Mrs. Sideris would like to bestow upon the students is this: “Anything you strive for is never handed to you. You have to work hard and allow yourself to make mistakes. Learning from those mistakes will be what leads to success.”