Learn about the New Teachers at Needville High School '24-25

     Annie White is the newest special education aide joining the high school staff this year. She was previously at Texas State majoring in family consumer sciences and this will be her first year teaching. She is an alumni from the high school and is looking forward to getting a different perspective from when she went to school here. 

    “I had previously graduated from Needville and I am very interested in getting a new perspective from the teaching side of things,” White said. 

    As an alumni, White has experienced a lot through her years in school here. She was involved in a lot of different activities such as Sapphires, TAFE, and FCCLA. 

    “I was the first four year Sapphire, and this is where I met my husband,” White said. 

    Being an alumni helped in her decision to come back as a staff member but she has always had a love for her profession. 

    “I have always had a passion for helping in the special education field,” White said, “I have always wanted to advocate and help students meet their needs in any way I can.”

    Outside of school, White likes to spend time with her baby and husband. One of her favorite parts of spending time with her family is cooking.

    “I love cooking,” White said, “Me and my husband are always cooking.”

    White would like to leave her students with the peace of mind that she understands their hardships and wishes to be a safe space for them. 

    “I understand how hard school is,” White said, “I have faced lots of hardships and I want students to know that it is ok to not be ok sometimes.”

    This year, the science department is welcoming Licona Muniz as the new Environmental Science and Biology teacher. Before becoming a teacher here she did social work, and this will be her first year teaching. 

“I have a bachelor's degree in public health and I was doing social work before coming here,” Muniz said.  “It is my first year teaching. I did my student-teaching semester last year.” 

As a teacher Muniz wants students to know that she is going to try to be a very easy going teacher. “I’m very chill and easy-going as long as students get their work done. ” Muniz said. .

Muniz’s favorite activities outside school are spending time with her family and reading. 

“Reading and hanging out with my family. I have three babies back at home.” Muniz said. .

In deciding to become a teacher she was inspired by helping every kid get the education they deserve. 

“I think the kids I was helping in social work,” Muniz said. “There was a gap in their education and I wanted to help them.”

When deciding from what district to go to, Needville stood out the most to her because of the students and staff. 

“Needville is great, other districts are not run the same, so I think it was the students and the admin that made me want to come here.” Muniz said. .

At a school with many diverse activities it is not easy to choose what Muniz is most looking forward to, but she settled for the students themselves. “I think the students; you guys are great! I’m looking forward to a great year, and can’t wait to see how it goes.” Muniz said.

The history department is welcoming a new teacher, Katherine Vacek. She is an alumni from the high school, and will be teaching world history, psychology, and sociology. Before coming back to the high school she taught at Bryan High School for 2 years. She is looking forward to being a Blue Jay once again. 

    “I am most looking forward to being back in my old high school and being able to be part of the Blue Jay community again”, Vacek said. 

    She was inspired to become a teacher because of the influence former teachers had on her. 

“In particular Mrs. Wyatt inspired me to become a teacher”, Vacek said. 

She wants students to enjoy her class and for history to be fun and interesting.

“I am making it my personal mission to make history enjoyable and my class fun”, Vacek said. 

Her motivation for wanting to come back to work at the high school was that she wanted to be closer to home. 

“I wanted to go back to my old high school closer to home”, Vacek said. 

Vacek’s favorite aspect of the job is getting to know all the students and staff she works with. 

“I enjoy getting to know my students and building relationships with them, as well as the other teachers”, Vacek said. 

Vascek would like to share a fun fact about herself to her students. . 

“I chose to be a world history teacher, yet I have never left the country”, Vacek said. 

    The band is welcoming their new assistant director, Alexander Askew, to the family. Askew’s duties include helping direct the high brass section. He has been interested in  the music industry due to his father being a music educator. 

    “I came to enjoy it in my own way as well as having some fantastic mentors and teachers who instilled in me the many lessons I needed to learn while growing as a young musician,” Askew said.

    Askew and his wife are from Winston Salem, North Carolina. While on their journey  to Texas, they came across the little town of Needville. 

     “When I learned about the school and band program at the schools here, I knew that this could be a great place for me,” Askew said. “The band directors I teach alongside are known throughout the region as being professional, successful, and engaging educators.”

    In the little time of Askew being here he has had an enjoyable experience teaching all different levels of band students     

“I love working here! My position is different from most in that I teach at the HS, JH, and MS band classes every day,” Askew said. “Working with all levels of band every day keeps my own interest in music piqued as I get to see it and teach it through the lens of beginners, intermediates, and advanced musicians.”

     Askew has done great things in the past and would like to continue that by setting his goals high for the band.

    “I would like to make all of my students lifelong music appreciators. Whether they play music beyond HS or not, as long as they can walk away knowing more about what makes music quality or not would make me happy,” Askew said. “I would also love to help the marching band make its way to the State level of competition!”

Rebecca Zwahr is our newest teacher for Special Education for the high school. She was previously working at the elementary school before migrating here. 

“This is not my first year in Needville, but my first year in the high school,” Zwahr said. 

    Zwahr has been teaching for 28 years now, she first started teaching in the elementary school, then she went to the Lamar district, then to the Fort Bend district, back to the elementary school for 2 years before eventually ending in the high school.  Her favorite thing about the high school so far is the pleasant environment. 

“My favorite thing here at high school is the atmosphere. It’s got a very pleasant atmosphere and it’s very happy. Everyone is very helpful and welcoming,” Zwahr said.

    Zwahr joins the high school teaching life skills for Special Education, where they focus less on academics and more on skills to prepare students for the outside world, the necessities for life.    

“We do some academics but a lot of it is going to be geared towards skills for life,” Zwahr said.

    Zwahr is very excited to be working here and can’t wait to help students learn this year.

 “My favorite thing about being a teacher is being able to be the change in the kids, when they see and learn stuff,” Zwahr said.

    Brittany McKnight is the newest Pass Aide at the High School. Previously she worked for 4 years at the elementary school. She attended college at The University of Houston Victoria. She is most looking forward to having a great year.  “I am looking forward to a  successful year.” McKnight said.  She was inspired to become a teacher because she worked in a daycare and enjoyed it. 

“I started out in daycare and worked with kids and decided to work for a school district.” McKnight said..

She decided to come to the high school because of the good reputation of the district. 

“I wanted to come here because I heard good things about the district.” Mcknight said.In the little time McKnight has been here , her favorite part is the atmosphere created by staff and students. “The atmosphere is my favorite part of being here. ” McKnight said.  

Outside of school McKnight’s hobbies are crafting and spending time with family.  

“I usually like to craft and make shirts outside of school, and spending time with family.” McKnight said. 

McKnight shared an interesting fact about herself. 

    “I’m a mentor at MD Anderson.” Mcknight said.