By Elisabeth Palacios

She went from a proud J.P McCaskey graduate, to cheer coach, to now principal resident and aspiring principal. Ms. Veitia–best known as “Ms. V”–has had a long journey at McCaskey. More specifically, she has been in the School District of Lancaster for all her life, and her time here doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon.

Ms. V started her education at Martin Luther King Elementary, then went to Lincoln Middle School, and got her high school diploma as a part of McCaskey’s Class of 2001. From then on, she got her first job inside the district 14 years ago at Wheatland Middle School as a support staff, before getting her teaching certification and coming back to McCaskey last year as a principal resident. Her dedication to this district is admirable; we are so lucky as students to have a staff member that is not only a McCaskey alumni, but has walked through the same steps as many McCaskey students today have.  

Her favorite part of her typical day at McCaskey is observing students at different points throughout the school day, considering how much diversity and personality is within our student body. “I love popping into classrooms and checking out what the teachers are doing with our students… I love talking to the students in the hallways during transitions.” 

And as crazy it may seem, this includes lunch duty. “It is a little weird… but you get to see the kids in their own element, you know, see who kind of has friendships with who and hear them complain about the food, but it’s a time to see them in an unstructured environment.” All of this reiterates what Ms. V said her favorite part of the job was overall: building relationships with students.

Of course, another common part of her day is disciplining students, which is her least favorite part of the job. However, she speaks to how she always ensures whenever a student has to go through the consequences of their actions that it can be a learning experience. It’s a corny statement, but it’s true; we all make mistakes. As Ms. V wisely says, “it’s how we bounce back and learn from those that’s important.” 

There’s another type of learning experience that she contributed to, though, and that was the one that comes with being a student-athlete. More specifically, a cheerleader. The moment I told Ms. V that I have heard about her being a cheer coach in the past, her face broke into a large smile. “I miss everything about cheer… I really, truly believe in students being a student athlete, where you’re a student first and you’re an athlete second, but the most important thing is that you represent your school with pride.”

After talking a lot about her past, present, and awaited future at McCaskey, the most important topic that came up was her motivation and reasoning behind every day she is here. To say it was touching is an understatement. Recalling her high school days, Ms. V could say she was a good student. She wasn’t getting straight A’s and she definitely wasn’t an all star, but she still tried her best. At the end of the day, she was just a normal teenager. 

However, she faced an obstacle in her final year—though she didn’t let it stop her.  “I had a baby my senior year, and I think most people frowned upon that, and wouldn’t understand or believe that I would be where I am today.” Being responsible for another person, she had to work twice as hard to graduate and to finish her studies, but she still accomplished that and so much more. 

Listening to her tell her story so openly was such an inspiration, and I agreed when she said that she is a good example of not needing to be a perfect student or person to be successful later on in life, as long as you put the work in. No matter what troubles we may encounter, it is always going to be possible to redeem ourselves. That’s exactly what she wants to teach all the students here at McCaskey, and she is doing an amazing job at it. 

There is no question how much Ms. V loves this school, and her final words to McCaskey students only confirms that and more: “We are the cream of the crop. There is no school like us. We are a beautiful, diverse, strong school, and we are a united front…I can go anywhere and compete with the best of the best, and know that because of my education here, that I’m definitely a competitor, and I want students to find that competitive spirit and nature and sense of pride in McCaskey as well.”