Virginia middle school staff nails hilarious photoshoot for Teacher Appreciation Week

ONLEY, Va. (WAVY) — A bunch of stone-faced shots from the staff at Nandua Middle School are anything but serious, and they’ve got the whole Eastern Shore belly laughing.

“I do believe that laughing at these is the closest I have come to peeing in my pants in a long time!” wrote Nandua teacher Betty Harmon on social media.

The photos were posted on Nandua Middle’s Facebook page Wednesday night and racked up 300 shares and more than 100 comments in 24 hours.

“They’re still talking about it and laughing about it every day,” said Nandua Middle Principal SuCora Owens, the mastermind for the shoot.

It all began as a way to help teachers relax during Teacher Appreciation Week, which happens to coincide with testing season.

Owens said she and her staff try to do something fun for staff every month, including lunches and even mocktails, but this was something extra special to help take the load off.

“The teachers are stressed around testing time, the kids are stressed around testing time,” Owens said. “So we wanted something where they could literally let loose. And it was the most hilarious thing I’ve ever done in my life. They had entirely too much fun.”

She said she saw similar photoshoots online and “was like ‘oh my God, my staff would love it.'”

So she called up one of her former 8th grade science students, Rickiece Poulson. The 26-year-old professional photographer from Northampton County has been helping Owens with projects for a few years now.

“He was like ‘Ms. Owens, I’m all for your shenanigans.'”

Poulson, who’s now based in Virginia Beach, said “everybody that knows Ms. Owens knows that this is the type of stuff that Ms. Owens does. She just makes things fun.”

He was having so much fun he forgot he was working.

“You could just see the teachers’ personality shine through,” Poulson said, “like their goofy side … I was just laughing in between poses.”

Some teachers had their ideas already picked out, while others pulled audibles on the spot.

“They were like wait, ‘can I go get a prop?’ and then they come back with a plant. I’m like ‘where did you get the plant from, first of all?’ … My speech teacher was like ‘hey, I found this balloon tank,'” said a laughing Owens.

Owens said the best part was everyone trying to keep a straight face.

“The funniest thing that people don’t see is that we were all dying laughing … as soon as he’s like ‘all right count down to three’ we have to go to the resting you-know-what face. It was hilarious trying to hold it together.”

Her favorite has to be the “Titanic” pose she did with teacher Heather Coniglio, who just also happens to be her workout partner.

“We couldn’t get it at first,” Owens said, “and she was like ‘come on Owens, you got the legs! I got the abs, you can do this!’ … and she was like ‘I got a cramp’ and I like ‘me too!’ but we got it.”

But the students’ favorite has to be custodian Debbie Conquest.

“She was like ‘are you really making me do this?’… and she was like ‘I’m gonna look like I’m tired of cleaning this stuff up,'” Owens said, “and she did it! We’ve already decided to make hers into a T-shirt because it’s that good.”

Owens already has plans to bring back Poulson to do a photoshoot for her students as an incentive for good test scores and attendance.

And of course, for the staff again next year.

“We’ve been asked to continue to do it every year now,” Owens said. “The teachers wanna keep doing it.”

You can follow Poulson on Facebook at Kieces Kaptures , and check out more of his work at KiecesKaptures.net.

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