TEACHER'S CORNER: TEACHER ENJOYS SOME HUMOR

Humor plays a part in Virginia Sander's classroom at St. Vincent de Paul School in Cape Girardeau.

"I enjoy the humor that I see in students," Sander said, "and my personality seems to encourage the expression of that humor in them.

"I jump at sudden noises, and students delight at the prospect of my reaction to an unexpected announcement or the ringing of the fire alarm."

Sander teaches junior high mathematics at the school where she has taught for 22 years.

A graduate of St. Joseph High School in Salisbury, she received her bachelor's degree in elementary education from St. Mary College in Leavenworth, Kan.

Sander had not planned to become a teacher when she started college. "By the second semester in my freshman year, I was already taking an education course," she said. "Lots of different interests led me to this decision.

"I enjoy working with young people. Every day is different and definitely a new challenge."

Sander meets with a group of selected sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students for 45 minutes a week. "We do `fun' and challenging problems and puzzles in this program that we call Math Counts," she said.

"It is one of the contests in which the students compete. Sometimes they can show me solutions to problems that I could not get. They are certainly a challenge, but an enjoyable one."

Sander is single and is one of seven children in her family.

She takes pictures for the school yearbook and the public relations committee. She also coaches the school's girls basketball team.

She enjoys spectator sports, snow skiing, learning computers, playing guitar, reading, and counted cross-stitch.