Imagine walking the hall- ways of Martin, passing the places where all your memories were created, staring into the Algebra class where you cried be- cause you didn’t under- stand anything, seeing your history teacher that you shared stories with every other day. Imagine walking into your classroom, but this time you are responsible for the students sitting at the desks. There are many teachers at Martin that were once students here. The welcoming and eager environment here at Martin is a big fac- tor in why so many alumni come back for more. “Once a Warrior, always a Warrior, and we stay around because we love it,” yearbook advisor Nina Glass said. The school spirit shown here is like no other. From spirit days and paper chains to the “Andre in the Halls” segment on the Mar- tin Student News, every- body is involved. “Every Friday afternoon we had pep rallies and I was in the band,” environ- mental science and geo science teacher John Dilday said. “Football games were cool, but honestly, the pep rallies were super fun. It’s just a lot of noise in a con- fined space. It’s loud, it’s rockin’, it goes hard.” Over the years, there has been a rapid increase in student and faculty diversity here at Martin. This is one major change that many alumni teachers have seen. Teachers who went to Martin can recognize the increase in student differences and the multicultural society here that may not have been as prominent during their time here. “Martin wasn’t quite as diverse when I went here,” Algebra II teacher Dean Parlin said. “That is probably one difference that I see the most. It is much more diverse now.” Returning faculty members said that the community at Martin draws people in and continues to make them feel welcome. One reason so many alumni said they come back for a second round is because of the strong connections made during their time here. “I love that it’s just one big family,” Algebra I teacher Shannon May said. “It doesn’t matter what group they’re in, if they’re an athlete or not. Whatever they are in, they will stick up for someone they don’t know, and I love that.” Teachers have more of an impact on students than many may realize. “Mrs. Davis, who is still here today, made me realize I wanted to be a teacher,” May said. “Mr. T , who is still here, made me realize I wanted to teach high school. And Mrs. Broyles, who is no longer here, made me realize I wanted to teach high school math. Because all of them were great teachers, I wanted to be like them one day.” Alumni teachers said they hold a deeper understand- ing for Martin because they have more experience on how it runs, the rules, priorities, and traditions. “Martin alumni contribute to the culture here be- cause they understand it and were impacted by it themselves,” Director of Instruction Kelly McCol- lough said. More than a dozen teachers graduated from Mar- tin, went to college, then chose to come back, which indicates satisfaction about the success that Martin has with pushing students to their limits through education. “I love the spirit behind education,” Dilday said. “We have a lot of good teachers here and I’ll admit, you guys are going to find several of them hard. They are hard teachers. I know this for a fact. But they are driven and they want everybody to succeed. It’s going to seem repetitive at times but you guys are going to be more prepared than other students from other schools. This school pushes its students and that’s what I like.”