"The students of West are well‑disciplined, warm, open, and have lots of personality," states Mrs. Alison Best, psychology of living and clothing teacher. Though Mrs. Best seems to be quite satisfied with her first year of teaching, she has quite ambitious plans for the future. This summer she hopes to teach summer school. Then she plans to take a trip to South America and the Caribbean with her husband "if I can learn to speak Spanish by that time."

Sailing is one of Mrs. Best's hobbies and one she misses doing here. Since she was born and raised in New York, Mrs. Best is a good sailor and has sailed often by the coasts of Maine and New York.

Another of Mrs. Best's many talents‑though only a pastime which she began doing in college ‑ is writing poetry. Some of her writing has been published, and Mrs. Best was quite thrilled. "It gives a person incentive to have his or her work in print." A word of advice from Mrs. Best is for the student to take advantage of his high school years and thoroughly enjoy them. Mrs. Best cautions, "Compared to college, high school is unreal." A student just can't realize how easy he has it now."

Mrs. Best has found nothing exceedingly wrong with Maine West ‑ only that she's "not too fond" of the layout of the building since she really has to "hoof it" to get to her classes on time. Her only recommendation to the school would be "to have the parking lot shoveled."

"I think that teaching is a great profession, or I wouldn't be in it." This statement was made by Miss Kathleen Van Ness, a new physical education instructor at Maine West. Although Miss Van Ness teaches all aspects of girls' physical education, she is best acquainted with modern dance. Consequently, she sponsors Modern Dance Club and GAA gymnastics.

Maine attracts Miss Van Ness because "There is a standard in the discipline and the everyday routine that the students are expected to live up to." She knows of nothing which she dislikes about Maine. As for her students, she replied, "I've been pleased, in general, with my classes.''

Miss Van Ness can often be seen walking through the halls in a pink leotard, blue skirt, red tights, gray sweater, and white ballerina slippers. She describes these walks through the halls as her embarrassing moments.