Emily Goldberg ’12
Web News Editor

Although Staples teachers may not strut down runways at fashion shows, they do have their own specific styles. Many teachers have made memorable fashion statements.

Chemistry teacher William Jones has a sense of style that particularly stands out. Students and teachers know Jones for his distinctive bowties which he sports each and every day.

When Jones first started working at Staples he said he was thought of as“the freak in the bowtie and pink pants.”

The area Jones grew up in influenced his style. Jones, who owns 40 bowties, attended high school at Boys’ Latin School of Maryland, where he said formal attire was normal and expected.

“Bowties are not unusual in a prep school environment in the South,” Jones said, “It’s just what I wear. I’ve always worn pink and bowties.”

At first Jones said he didn’t realize that students had begun to recognize Jones for his attire, but he certainly does now, and says students comment on it all the time.

His fashion sense has even had an influence on his students. “I’ve had a positive influence on the style of Jake Malowitz who wore a bowtie to the final exam last year,” Jones said.  

Noteworthy attire seems to run in the science department. For the past five years, Jones and the rest of the department have been participating in a fashion tradition that is known throughout the school.

Each week the department participates in Pink Shirt Mondays, which was coined by chemistry teacher Andrew Strauss after a mere coincidence.

“It really happened by accident, seven or eight of us were all wearing pink shirts, so we said maybe we should do this every week,” said Chemistry and AP Biology teacher Joel Kabak.

Expanding beyond just the chemistry teachers, science department Chair, A.J. Sheetz as well as several lab aides also participate in Pink Shirt Monday.

Students have come to easily recognize this weekly tradition.

“It’s pretty noticeable when we all walk down the hallway to lunch,” Kabak said.                                            

When Trema Voyteck came to the department three years ago, she quickly noticed the weekly event. 

“No one really told me about it so one day I jokingly said that I didn’t get the memo [about the pink shirts] but then someone told me that I really didn’t,” Voyteck said.               Since then, Voyteck has been a consistent participant in the tradition. 

“It’s a fun thing to do, and adds an additional level of camaraderie,” Kabak said.

Another department that unites through common apparel is the English Department whose members can be seen flaunting their department t-shirts from time to time. 

Two years ago, the English teachers voted on a slogan for a department t-shirt. Mary Elizabeth Fulco’s idea, “Being vague is as annoying as that other thing,” was chosen to be featured on the shirt.

“When we wear [our English department shirts] we feel connected to school and to the department,” said English teacher Mary Elizabeth Fulco.

The department wears their shirts during spirit week, and Fulco said that she along with several other teachers often where their shirts on Fridays as well.

Known around the school by many students, the shirts spark conversation and get a laugh from the students, said Fulco.