There has been a new edition to the Spring Lake English department, all the way from Indonesia: Alex Pantoja! After graduating high school in West Michigan, he attended Michigan State University and graduated in 2015. His love of traveling led him overseas to teach in Indonesia for three years, giving him a different perspective on teaching. When Covid-19 broke out, he moved back to the U. S. due to the stricter regulations in Indonesia. However, he decided to move back to Indonesia with his family in 2023.
At home, Pantoja has a three-and-a-half-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son and a wife who is also an English teacher. Pantoja enjoys basketball, and even played on a team while in Indonesia. Pantoja’s calming demeanor creates an open and welcoming environment for his classroom. In this first trimester of the school year he is teaching three periods of 10th grade English and one period of AP Language and Composition.
When thinking about moving to Spring Lake, Pantoja looked at our school newspaper and saw the articles on the English department additions. He thought, “I want to work with those people,” and settled on his decision to start applying for the open position at Spring Lake.
Going into the 2024-2025 school year, we welcome him to Spring Lake. This will be his 10th year of teaching. Pantoja is excited about teaching English at Spring Lake. He likes the district’s environment, and the extracurriculars it has to offer. He even has ideas of adding a creative writing club in the future. Pantoja feels that Spring Lake has a lot of hard working students that have a lot to offer, which excites him because he likes seeing students give effort into their studies.
Pantoja is a great addition to our English Department and the Spring Lake community. Let’s give him a warm welcome to Spring Lake High School!
