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Timothy Van Scoyoc puts on a persona of your average high school teacher. He’s a member of the English department, and the only French teacher Bellwood-Antis offers in its curriculum.

It’s no question that Monsieur Van plays a key role in the education of many students here at B-A, but what sets him apart is his hidden talent in the arts.

Mr. Van has taught for nearly three decades in total. 12 of those years have been here in the halls of Bellwood-Antis High. He graduated college from Penn State, and even taught at one of its branch campuses for a while.

“It’s rewarding to see students grasp a concept and make connections,” said Mr. Van. “I love to see their understanding of the world expanding and learning more about other cultures.”

With Mr. Van’s extensive teaching experience, it’s easy not to see how much his talent in the classroom exceeds what’s within the curriculum. For example, to assist his lessons, Mr. Van often draws his own pictures.

“My aunt was a good artist, maybe I inherited some talent,” said Mr. Van. “I don’t know that I was ‘inspired’ by anything. It was more a matter of necessity of wanting to use an image that I couldn’t find in clip art.”

When Mr. Van had begun teaching, clipart wasn’t as readily available as it is today via internet, but rather you could buy books of clipart, cut them out, and paste them in.

“I found it was just as easy for me to draw my own pictures,” said Mr. Van. “I could get a drawing of exactly what I wanted, within my drawing capabilities.”

Mr. Van has perfected the way he makes his drawings, and uses them to customize his lessons.

“For my Exploratory French classes, I wanted to develop a lesson book that fit specifically what I was teaching. I drew my own pictures so that I didn’t get in trouble for using someone else’s images. Nowadays, I can also use the computer to help with the drawings. Sometimes I will sketch something, then scan it into paint and enhance it – getting the lines straight or adding shading,” Mr. Van explained.