What's your title at CLHS?
Social Studies Teacher
Are you a Concordia alum?
Alum 2004
When did you start at CLHS?
2016
Please describe your position at CLHS.
I teach World History and United States History. I am also the head coach for the boys and girls swim team.
What was your education that led you to CLHS?
That depends on how you define "education"! Formally, I attended Indiana University - Bloomington after high school and studied education. However, the Lord took me on a journey over the nearly 8 years between graduating college and landing here at Concordia that molded me into the teacher I am today more than anything I learned in college. Some of those years were in education and five years were away from the classroom. God used those experiences to expand my world view, teach me a lot about hard work and restructure what I valued in life among other things.
What did you love most about teaching at CLHS?
Big picture, being able to be open about who Jesus Christ is, what he means to me and how everything we learn about relates to him. There's nothing more important to me in life or as an educator. Day to day, it's the atmosphere I love. The longer I'm here the more I appreciate that it's a family. In my experience that's true among teachers and other staff, but it's also true of the relationships built over the course of the year with students. It's just small enough that you can truly get to know them. It's fun to see them open up and embrace that becoming more comfortable as the year goes on. The last day of the school year is in some ways sad for that reason because you've spent 9 months with a group of kids and built a relationship with them.
What's your favorite story about your time at CLHS?
One of my first years there was a student who was going through some very difficult things in their family/home life. One morning he popped in my room very early before school wanting to talk. He shared a lot about his situation, we talked life, we prayed together and read some scripture. That became a regular thing every few weeks. We lost touch a little bit after that semester. Then maybe a year ago he was in town and stopped in to say hi. He was doing great. Talking about how excited he was for things to come, the church he was going to and the things God was teaching him at that time. On the surface, that alone is an amazing testimony of God's faithfulness. It's my favorite story though because I was frustrated when he came in that first day. I wasn't prepared for that day's lesson and knew I would run out of time if I stopped to talk with him. I felt the Lord tugging me hard though and went with it. I knew deep down that relationship was more important. Ultimately it relates back to what I love about teaching here because I also knew that while we push to be excellent academically, at the core we are a school that values that moment, that relationship, that student more than my lesson being perfect every time. He may or may not remember that specific day, but I do. In that moment God confirmed why He wanted me here.