{"id":14598,"date":"2025-12-08T13:14:43","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T18:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=14598"},"modified":"2025-12-08T13:14:43","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T18:14:43","slug":"citywide-teacher-of-the-year-finalist-melissa-schappell-salem-high-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/citywide-teacher-of-the-year-finalist-melissa-schappell-salem-high-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Citywide Teacher of the Year Finalist: Melissa Schappell, Salem High School"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Melissa Schappell, an art teacher at the Visual and Performing Arts Academy (VPAA) at Salem High School, is a finalist for citywide Teacher of the Year.<\/p>\n

Earlier this school year, she helped to oversee the creative development, design and construction of Salem High School’s parade float for the Timbaland Way Day \u00a0event.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my classroom, it is important for students to be able to make personal and interdisciplinary connections that they can apply to multiple facets of life,\u201d Schappell said. \u201cCreative and critical thinking strategies that help students to solve problems and analyze the world in which we live are encouraged.\u201d<\/p>\n

A native of the Philadelphia area, Schappell received her bachelor\u2019s degree from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania and her master\u2019s from Radford University. She has 13 years of teaching experience, including 10 at Virginia Beach City Public Schools. Schappell is also an adjunct art instructor with Tidewater Community College<\/p>\n

Salem Principal Carey Manugo said Schappell \u201cfosters creativity, academic rigor, and passion in her classroom while empowering her students to think critically, take creative risks, and discover their unique artistic voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharon Byrd, academy coordinator and assistant principal at Salem, describes Schappell as the embodiment of what it means to be an educator-artist.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer students thrive under her mentorship because she challenges them to exceed their own expectations \u2014 always with kindness, humor and heart,\u201d Byrd said.<\/p>\n

To promote the work of the students and provide future learning opportunities for them, each year she plans an art show and fundraising event called Raku-B-Que that brings in hundreds of art advocates and families from the surrounding community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the funds raised we have been able to provide students with everything from a printing press to discounted field trip opportunities,\u201d she said. \u201cThe bonds and skills acquired through these experiences transcend the classroom and are invaluable to students, with an impact on them that lasts far beyond their high school years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Providing service-learning and educational opportunities outside of the classroom is important, Schappell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough field trips, independent masterclasses, and the invitation of visiting guest speakers, I expose them to museums and galleries, performance spaces, archives and new methods of creating in the surrounding community and beyond,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Schappell\u2019s work has received numerous accolades, including awards at The Boardwalk Art Show and the Stockley Gardens Art Show. She has also been selected for exhibitions at Virginia MOCA and the Sandler Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer personal achievements provide an inspiring model for her aspiring young artists,\u201d said Erin Richburg, lead visual arts teacher at VPAA.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melissa Schappell, an art teacher at the Visual and Performing Arts Academy (VPAA) at Salem High School, is a finalist for citywide Teacher of the Year. Earlier this school year, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":14601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,213],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-staff-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14598"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14626,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14598\/revisions\/14626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}