Walking into the classroom, Zach Portlock recites the lyrics to a popular Drake song.

“901 Shelby Drive, look alive,” he says.

All of his students fall into attention.

Many students know Zach Portlock from his role last year as a guided study teacher. This year, however, he is taking on a new role. 

Portlock, a 2017 Windsor graduate, has debuted as the newest world history teacher, and so far he is acclimating to his new role well. 

While some new teachers may have trouble managing and relating to their students, Portlock does not.

He said, “I walk in and to get their attention I say ‘901 Shelby Drive look alive’, which is a Drake song, and I just love the reactions I get because everybody’s  like ‘oh my gosh’ he knows the song,” Portlock said.   “What they don’t realize is that there’s some music we have in common, and some pop culture that we have in common.”

The administration is pleased to have Portlock back in a new role.

“I think he’s doing a great job. Any new teacher I think you get overwhelmed and there’s lots of things, but he has a leg up on a lot of others just because he’s been here as a guided study teacher,” assistant principal Rachel Montgomery said.

Aside from being a guided study teacher at WHS, Portlock also has experience teaching in American history and government.

“I taught American History for two years when I was doing student teaching and I fell in love with it,” Zach said.

Not only is Portlock one of the newest teachers, he was also a Windsor High School student himself.

“I went here when I was in Windsor so I had most of these teachers and I had a lot of them in the Social Studies department, and I had people I looked up to, so I’m glad that they’re helping me out with just the curriculum in general,” he said.

No promotion is without its challenges, and this year Portlock is taking on another role that is new to him.

“Psychology is something that I’m not really as familiar with as much as I am to like American History or American Government, so it’s really something that I’m trying to learn myself,” Portlock said. 

Despite this, Portlock has overall been a great fit in the Windsor High School community, especially since he has already been a part of it as a student, and he seemingly has a great first year ahead of him.

“Any time that we can bring folks back into our high school that have graduated from here, that speaks volumes about what we do here. If they want to be a part of that for their career, then that’s a phenomenal thing and those are the people that we want here,” Montgomery said.