Eight new teachers join Hillsboro and Goessel schools
Four new teachers will greet students as the 2006-07 school year begins at Hillsboro USD 410.
Mickey Harvey, Claire Overstake, Sonya Roberts, and Ellynne Wiebe will add nearly 60 years of classroom experience to Hillsboro schools.
Harvey will teach technology classes at Hillsboro Middle School and technology and technical drawing classes in the high school.
He also has accepted two supplemental positions, co-sponsor of the Technology Student Association, and managing Channel 45, the school's community access television station.
Students in communication technology classes will do maintenance and programming on the station, he said.
"The more school-related programming we can put on the station, the better," Harvey said. "We want to include as many sporting events as we can."
Harvey is working on his master's degree in technology from Pittsburg State University. He received his under graduate degree at Bethel College.
He comes to USD 410 after teaching shop and technology classes for 10 years at Sedgwick schools. All told, he brings a total of 19 years experience to his new position.
Harvey and his wife, Anne, and their three children live in rural Walton, have a Moundridge phone number, and the children are enrolled in Goessel schools, he said.
Claire Overstake is the new fifth grade teacher at Hillsboro Elementary School. She taught sixth grade math and science at Fort Scott Middle School for the past seven years, and also was girls' track coach.
"Teaching fifth graders primarily science and math is a great opportunity," Overstake said. "Children at this age are eager to learn new things about their world and are able to grasp more difficult math concepts."
A graduate of Wichita Heights High School and the University of Kansas school of education, Claire is the wife of Grant Overstake, the editor of the Hillsboro Star-Journal.
The Overstakes now have three children in college.
Sonya Roberts is the new agriculture education teacher at Hillsboro High School.
She has undergraduate and master's degrees in agricultural education from Kansas State University and 15 years teaching experience. Her most recent position was as the agriculture education teacher in the Peabody-Burns district.
Sonya is married to Rickey Roberts, the Marion County extension agent, and has been active at the county fair and FFA gatherings for many years.
Sonya and her husband and their three children live on a farm near Hillsboro. She's happy to be working closer to home.
Roberts has been encouraged this summer by the large number of Hillsboro High School students participating in FFA activities, including leadership camp, a back-to-school picnic, and running the petting zoo at the county fair.
"I counted 32 people at the picnic," she said, "so I'd say we have a lot of potential."
After serving as a paraprofessional for the Marion County Special Education Cooperative at Hillsboro Elementary School last year, this year Ellynne Wiebe will be the new Title I instructor at the elementary school.
"My role is to assist the teachers in all grades by encouraging their students to improve their reading and math skills," Wiebe said.
Wiebe earned her undergraduate degree from Tabor College and has a master's degree in multicultural education from the University of Colorado.
She taught first and second grades for six years in Denver, and for six years has been an adjunct professor at Tabor.
Wiebe lives in Hillsboro with her husband Jon, and their two sons.
Four new teachers join the staff at Goessel USD 411.
Rachel Hein will be teaching high school math. Hein is a graduate of Wichita North High School, where she was class valedictorian. She went on to Tabor College where she received her degree in mathematics with honors.
Hein entered teaching through the alternate certification process and taught mathematics for the past four years in Hope.
She and her husband, Kerry, live in Hillsboro.
Kenton Allen has been hired to teach Spanish for both Goessel and Canton-Galva. He'll spend mornings at Canton-Galva and afternoons in Goessel, where he'll teach Spanish I through IV.
Allen has traveled extensively in Spanish-speaking countries and brings a broad background of teaching experience. He also has worked for many years as a foreign exchange student coordinator.
One of Allen's more memorable moments was delivering a lecture atop the Pyramid to the Sun in Mexico.
Allen and his wife live in Wichita.
David Graham will join the USD 411 staff as the agriculture education teacher. He is a graduate of Morrowville High School and Kansas State University, earning an under-graduate degree in agricultural education.
Graham taught at Jewell for two years before going on to graduate studies at the University of Nebraska.
His background allows him to combine agriculture, science, math, problem solving, and communication skills in his classroom.
Joel Hesed is not new to Goessel High School. He was a student teacher there last year.
Hesed will teach junior high language arts and will coach forensics. Last year, he assisted in many different capacities, including forensics judging, taking stats during basketball games, helping with prom, and other tasks.
Hesed attended Otis-Bison High School and is a graduate of Bethel College.
