Welcome to a brand new school year! This year has a whole new beginning with new opportunities. This school year still has the normal hours, lunch, and early mornings, however there are seven new members to the Tiger family. This is the largest amount of new staff members this school has had in a while. The new staff members are: Jonathan Wildhaber, World History; Amanda Collier, Communication Arts; Rhonda Cluck, Math; Rob Davenport, Biology; James Richmond, Paraprofessional; Debi Jones, Paraprofessional; and Heidi McKern, Librarian.
Unlike the rest of the new staff, this is Jonathan Wildhaber’s first year of teaching. Although he was nervous, he found that the first few days were “awesome, exciting and went really well.” Like most first year teachers beginning at a new school he said, “I didn’t know what to expect and I had a few things planned out.” He’s not only a new teacher here at DeKalb, but he also coaches middle school basketball and football and is the assistant coach of varsity basketball DHS. When it came to getting used to everything, he wanted to get to know the kids and ask questions to other teachers to try and get the hang of the normal routine.
Mr. Davenport taught college chemistry and physics at Platte County High School. When asked how he felt on his few days of school he said, “I was nervous but excited.” The things that surprised him the most were how small classes are and the short passing periods He hopes to be able to fit into the DeKalb Tiger family, and he knows there will be different things to learn. He says, “People may think I’m a city guy, but I’m starting to like country living.”
Ms.Cluck had taught here at DeKalb High School from 2002 to 2007. She said her first day back here was smooth and okay, but also pretty hot! She decided to come back because a math teacher was needed. When asked how kids are different from 2002 to now she responded, “Kids don’t change.” She does mention that social media is now an issue.
Although these teachers all come from different places and different phases of their career, they were all excited for the new school year.