When Mr. Vo comes around to one of the tables in his class and requests a song to play while students work, he is usually met with some blank stares and a few meek suggestions. Nonetheless, he moves on and plays the non-explicit songs at students’ requests, creating an environment where the students can do their work and have fun doing it.

Mr. Vo, with his willingness to make personal connections to his students, is the science teacher who everyone looks forward to having. Also, there is much anticipation in the fact that Mr. Vo wears a lot of different shoes. No, seriously, he owns a LOT of pairs of shoes. I’m pretty sure he wears a new pair every single day. Even his hat collection is almost as varied and colorful as his shoe collection.

But beyond his exceptional fashion sense, Mr. Vo distinguishes himself as an extraordinary teacher through his passion for making sure that students learn what they need to be successful in his class. Sometimes, Mr. Vo can be strict with service learning deadlines or with quiz answers, but it shows that he truly does care about the knowledge that his students acquire, more so than the grades that they get. The lectures that Mr. Vo gives are always entertaining—he knows exactly how to relate the subject matter to some modern event or topic that is widely known by his students.

There are a lot of reasons that make Mr. Vo such a wonderful and welcoming teacher, but one of the biggest is his ability to understand his students and the various situations that they’re in. He is incredibly aware of the “Arcadia culture” that runs deep through the halls of AHS, and he empathizes with each of his students to provide for them the best learning environment possible. To many, S-211 becomes a comfortable place for students to communicate their ideas and feel supported, and students rapidly become invested in the courses and lessons that Mr. Vo teaches.

Mr. Vo places so much trust in his students-when students are tasked to do labs, there’s often a multitude of independent figuring-out that has to be done. His attitude may seem nonchalant, but it’s not; Mr. Vo knows that the best way for students to learn is through experience and trial and error. He also knows precisely how to probe into his students’ minds to get them to consider new perspectives on seemingly black-and-white issues, challenging them to think deeper and figure out solutions to real-world environmental crises.

Sometimes, the hints that Mr. Vo gives on his tests are ones that no one in the class can figure out. The blank faces that Mr. Vo gets when he gives these obscure hit-or-miss hints are akin to the ones he gets when he requests songs. However, one thing for sure is always a hit—  Mr. Vo’s class and the warm, amiable classroom environment he cultivates.

-Sandi Khine, 11, Pow Wow, News Editor