LASA has been a high school in Austin since 2007, and has seen many teachers and students come and go over the years. Aaron Pellowski, the Latin teacher, and Vyasar Ganesan, a college counselor, were both students at LASA. Now, Pellowski is in his first year teaching here while Ganesan just started his second. Pellowski said that his years at LASA were some of the best of his life.

“I knew at the time that LASA was a school unlike any other because it was a place where people like me could both have a regular teenager life but also enjoy a rigorous academic environment,” Pellowski said.

When Pellowski was at LASA, he was part of Latin Club, where he was co-consul, and part of Quiz Bowl. He did Quiz Bowl all four years of high school.

“Competing in tournaments nearly every weekend and then going to nationals near the end of the year was always something that took a lot of extracurricular effort,” Pellowski said, “but I found [it] extremely rewarding and were some of the best memories that I’ve had here.”

Pellowski is currently going through his first year of teaching at LASA . Pellowski said that when he decided to become a teacher he wanted to teach at LASA, but didn’t think he would be able to.

“When I found out that there was an opportunity to teach here, it was like a dream come true,” Pellowki said.

Ganesan is a college counselor here at LASA, and went here for high school. As a college counselor, Ganesan works with seniors, helping them find colleges they want to apply to, filling out applications, and reminding them of deadlines, among other things. When Ganesan was asked why he decided to come back to LASA he said,

“I did enjoy being a student here, but the biggest reason I wanted to come back was the chance to work with LASA students,” Ganesan said. “They care so much about their academic achievement they are not thinking about all the other nonsense. They are so smart but they lack self perspective and I remember what it was like.”

Ganesan has been a teacher at LASA since 2018, and graduated in 2008. Before his current job, he worked in Admissions at Texas State. He said that he liked the job, but he found it hard to build relationships with the students he saw at LASA.

“I came to LASA I would chat with students for like 30 minutes or an hour and then I would have to move on to my next school and it was really hard to build those relationships,” Ganesan said. “Now working here I see the same people day in and day out. I get to learn about them and ask what they want to do with their lives and that’s really fun.”