The 2024-2025 school year brings new faces to Cypress Lake High School, and after 11 years of teaching in Orlando, Ms. Weldon is excited for the new experiences that Cypress will bring.

“The students are awesome, the environment is really welcoming and friendly,” Ms. Weldon said, adding that she is also excited to coach girls’ basketball.

With 12 years of experience, Ms. Weldon has taught everything from 6th grade math to Algebra II. When asked what she would teach if not math, she seemed stumped. “I’ve actually never thought about that,” she told me. “Maybe just coaching.” Despite originally intending to be a Spanish teacher, Ms. Weldon started out with math and never looked back. “I like that [math] is formulaic, there’s structure, and I enjoy breaking it down for students who don’t like math.”

Among the things that surprise her about Cypress is the dedication to purple. The biggest novelty though, is that this is her first time at an arts school.  “[Cypress] has a lot to offer as far as electives, and it has a wide range of students, which I think is important- diversity in high school.”

When she isn’t lesson planning, Ms. Weldon can be found taking care of her newly adopted pitbull puppy, golfing, coaching at the gym, or at one of her daughter’s concerts. Overall, she likes to attend events, like games and plays, so she says to “keep [her] in the loop.”

I asked her about student misconceptions about her, to which she said she might come off as strict or mean. “Maybe I am?” she admits. Students also assume she’s younger than she is. When I inquired about her age, she replied, perhaps a bit predictably, “You can do the math.”