Chapter 2: Michael Vereb
Former Parkview teacher Michael Vereb knew he wanted to be a teacher since he himself was a high school student at Parkview High School.
“Whenever I was a senior in high school, I took teacher cadets, what is now like future educators or educators rising. So I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I was in high school. I got scholarships from Parkview to go on and become a teacher. And I get to live my dream,” Vereb said.
While at Parkview, Vereb was most excited to be involved in the school culture and environment through various roles he took part in.
“I love school. I’m a big part of school, I love the community. So, as a teacher at Parkview, I had a lot of different roles. At different points I helped like assistant coach track, or an assistant coach cross country,” Vereb said. “But I think the thing that was most exciting for me was being the SCA sponsor, helping to build school culture, like the community school spirit. That is the essence of what I love about my job.”
Being incorporated with the community is something that is important to Vereb after his move to Purcellville in 2018.
“I wanted to be involved in my local community, and Valley is that. So in the three days of school that we’ve had, I’ve already been able to take my son to two Loudoun Valley sporting events. And, it was so easy, and so fun. And that’s what I wanted to do. That’s what prompted the move, so I could be a part of the community, support you all the students, and I’m doing it.” Vereb said.
Nonetheless, the change for Vereb in the surrounding administration and faculty team has been a new adjustment.
“One of the things that is so special about being a teacher is your community of colleagues, like your other teachers, you think that those are our boys, like, that’s our team. I had a really great team at Parkview. And you don’t build a team in a day or in 10 days. And honestly, that was my biggest adjustment because I love it all. And again, you don’t build that overnight and you don’t build relationships that matter. by just saying, ‘I want this to matter.’” Vereb said. “You experience things together. You push for goals together, and that takes time. So that’s going to happen yeah, it just wasn’t there in the very beginning. But also again, that just doesn’t happen overnight because good teams and good friendships happen through shared experiences and investment in each other. And we’re going to do that.”
Vereb, a DE US history, AP government, and AP human geography teacher, takes being able to see his students back in the building alone as a blessing and he hopes that it will be something permanent for the future.
“Just being able to see everything is like the best gift. So I just want to continue being able to see y’all.”