Zac Balk

By Zixuan, Wang (Chloe)

Zac Balk, a previous Two-Plus-One teacher who had recently come to SPAS in September 2021, is now teaching both World Literature and AP Literature and Composition at St. Paul American School.He was originally born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, a big city in the east where the temperature varies greatly in winter and summer. Meanwhile, He spent the entire duration of his high school life in and around St. Louis, while his college life was spent a mere few hours in the vicinity. This is arguably the reason why he has an overly positive attitude towards everything, due to his experiences in this brisk city.

After studying here for three years, I can safely say that Mr. Balk appears to be the most energetic teacher I have ever encountered in SPAS. Not only is he is very good at motivating students’ attention and maintaining concentration towards studying, but also he is always guiding students fluently through the difficulties they may experience during their readings and writings. But this expertise does not simply come from thin air. His experiences with Two-Plus-One students, a program co-existing on the SPAS campus, also brought him a broad mentality to deal with various difficulties. Consequently, when students struggled to finish their assessments on time or forget to turn them in, Mr. Balk manages to guide them with a patient mind.

After TPO and SPAS teachers, students, and staff merged in the fall of 2021, it became easy to find overall differences between how the two communities solved individual problems. The studying atmosphere appeared to be quite different as of current. “SPAS has a stricter study environment due to its unchanged curriculum, whereas former TPO could change the curriculum to fit students, which was more flexible,” said Mr. Balk. A possible reason for this difference is because SPAS students need to get their annual credits to focus to stay on a tight yearly goal. Whereas TPO students need to fit the mold of the high school that they will attend in their senior year, also known as the “plus one”. This indirectly leads to the comparison of the studying style between the two departments. Former TPO students think more directly, carefully abiding by instruction and not deviating from the individual teacher’s path in the process. Whereas SPAS students think more indirectly, searching for their own interpretation of the question instead of the teacher telling them the standard answer. Though both answers and outcomes will ultimately result in a high grade-point average, the results are achieved in a vastly different order. The differences, Mr. Balk believes, are not shaped by the environment, but by the distinct backgrounds that the students have. SPAS students have experienced an international learning style as young as elementary school. SPAS also has more foreign teachers than a normal international school, thereby creating a very international atmosphere. Yet TPO students generally begin the push to go abroad for their senior year around 10th grade, ultimately having 3 years to adapt to the foreign learning environment.

Despite the existing estrangement from students, there is an unexpectedly good relationship between former TPO and SPAS teachers. This came as a surprise to everyone, including myself during the interview itself. Mr. Balk joined here easily with opened arms, and because he had already established a bit of familiarity with other teachers in SPAS, hence the group picture. It was and still is, indeed easy for him to integrate into SPAS. As the result, teachers from the former TPO department are feeling an increasing sense of belonging in SPAS, also as a result of the students' warm embrace. new teachers. In this case, the relationships between former TPO students and SPAS students are improving day by day, “It is really good to see students becoming friends and keep becoming friends in the process.” stated Mr. Balk enthusiastically. House activities, clubs, and group work in class are also making the relationships between students better.

Even though the former TPO department does not have a pre-established “belongingness” to SPAS now due to their short time arrival, we still hope that students in SPAS can build a strong friendship with each other in the future. As the old saying goes, “Tomorrow is always better,” and we can certainly make a harmonious campus in the future if we persevere in breaking the ice.