Janice Payeur:  

I hope you remember me as that goofy girl who was always smiling and game for anything. I liked being a part of the band family and wanted everyone to like me. Those years of band are my favorite and strongest memories of high school. I was surrounded by fun people who were active and diverse. I suppose I always wanted to be a teacher when I grew up. I was always happy at school and was fond of most of my teachers. My only trauma was fifth grade math. Thanks to Ricky Hopper, I survived. As it turns out, teaching suits me. I love books and research. I love to help people get to the point of understanding. My favorite ways to relax are reading and horse back riding. Truly, just being around the horse I lease is soothing. That has become my obsession in life now. The wildest thing I ever did in school was bring vodka and orange juice to drink in class. We were, after all, the Party Hardy class of '79. If I'm going to work somewhere, I need to have a pot of coffee, great colleagues, and a sense of humor to be able to deal with the day-to-day. My inspiration comes from different places; sometimes it's a former teacher like C.J. McNaughton or a great book or line from a writer. Some days it's the students who inspire. Last year the district asked me to help chair the English Department at YHS. I still feel like it was a back-handed compliment. They only asked because the woman they promoted over me needed to take maternity leave. That's how my career has been from the start; a series of lucky breaks. I've lived only one year in Sweden as an exchange student - the rest was either i...Expand for more