Director of Online Learning Chris Powers in his official Shorecrest picture. Powers will be taking over for substitute teacher Michael Samonek for the remainder of the year.

     Director of Online Learning Christopher Powers has taken over the teaching of some underclassmen English classes for the remainder of the school year. Following the departure of long-time US English Department Chair Jake Seymour, Michael Samonek took over his classes whilst Powers was on tour with his band, The Hip Abduction.

     According to US Head Dean and 12th Grade Dean, Stacy Alexander, Samonek was a long-time substitute until Powers could come back full time. For the 2026-2027 school year, Shorecrest has hired a full-time English replacement who will be announced shortly.

     Since Powers is now not just a substitute teacher for Seymour, Powers now gets to teach his own curriculum for these last 8 weeks, a curriculum he believes is quite unique .

     “Oh, yeah my curriculum is quite distinctive from others because I just love books. My majors were philosophy and English literature when I was in college. I really think that if you pick the right sorts of texts for students— for example, Kite Runner—there’s some really intense stuff that happens in it, but the imagery and the figurative language in it is so accessible to talk about in discussions…” Powers said.

     Although Powers is taking over again as an English teacher, he has taught for 19 years at Shorecrest, longer than any high schooler at the school has been alive.

     “This is my 19th year here at Shorecrest, and the first nine years that I was here, I was a college counselor. Then I taught three sections of English,” Powers said. “After that, I taught a philosophy course, and I stepped in and taught English for AP Literature right around the pandemic.”

     The sudden departure of Seymour left everyone in shock, including his students, admissions, and his fellow teachers. Being a beloved member of the Shorecrest community with 17 years at Shorecrest, teaching since 2008,  Seymour’s loss was sure to make an impact on the Shorecrest community. Freshman Dov Schulman who had Seymour’s class was also very surprised with his decision to leave.

     “Going into the school year I had asked my brother about him, and he said it was one of his favorite teachers. Therefore, I was very excited to have him as my teacher, and seeing him leave after two weeks was definitely a shock and a bit of a letdown,” Schulman said.

     Powers hopes to mirror those kinds of relationships with his students this year.  According to Powers, one of his most important values is the bond he creates with his students, and how he hopes he means as much to them as much as they do to him.

     “After spending a month with the students and getting bonds created with them, it was definitely hard just leaving, especially since it recently just happened then. So now that I get to be back for the next two months, I get to reform these bonds with the students, which I am super excited for,” Powers said.