Three new teachers are employed by district
By JENNIFER WILSON
News editor
For the 2002-03 school year, three new teachers have been hired by the Durham-Hillsboro-Lehigh school district.
And while all are new members of the USD 410 faculty, only one is a new face to Hillsboro.
The least-known new teacher — at least for now — is high school agricultural teacher Tim Kilgore.
Kilgore is a native Kansan who grew up on a farm in the northeast part of the state near Atchison. He graduated from Pleasant Ridge High School, and went on to get his bachelor's degree in animal science at Kansas State University.
Kilgore graduated from K-State in 1997 and moved to Iowa, where he worked for Iowa Beef Producers. Technically speaking, he worked in "pork procurement" — which essentially means hog buying, Kilgore said.
But two years in Iowa was enough for Kilgore, who was ready to move back to Kansas to be closer to his girlfriend, also a K-State student. They're now married.
But Kilgore also knew that he didn't want to be in the pork procurement business forever. So he went back to college and earned his education degree. This past spring he completed his student teaching at Clay Center High School.
"I knew I wanted to stay in the ag industry," Kilgore said.
Growing up in a rural Kansas community, Kilgore kept busy with 4-H, FFA, and other ag-related activities.
Here in Hillsboro, Kilgore is the FFA sponsor.
"That's a big part of the ag program," Kilgore said.
FFA helps high school students develop their leadership skills and look at potential careers, he said.
Already he's had the chance to work with some of the FFA students this summer by getting involved with the county fair and traveling with FFA to a leadership conference in Great Bend.
"I got my feet wet," Kilgore said.
Kilgore and his wife, Megan, moved down to Hillsboro after living just west of Topeka. Megan Kilgore worked for the Kansas Department of Commerce and Housing, and she's found out recently that she'll be able to move her job to Wichita. She also likes the Hillsboro area, Kilgore said.
Kilgore replaces former ag teacher Kristi Esquibel, whose contract wasn't renewed last year.
Another teacher new to the faculty is Dustin Dalke — but he's not new to the community.
Dalke grew up in Hillsboro and graduated from HHS in 1996. In fact, his mother, Donna, is the high school secretary.
After graduation, Dalke went to Ft. Hays State University to work on his education degree. He received his bachelor's in the spring of this year.
When Dalke went into student teaching, he wasn't sure what age group he wanted to dive into. So he student taught at two different levels: Hays High School and Roosevelt Elementary School.
Now Dalke's at the high school level, which he prefers, he said.
Being an art teacher involved a mastery of many different mediums, but Dalke's favorites are painting jewelry and sculpture.
During the school year, he'll have the chance to teach those skills and more, with classes in art history, drawing, painting, photography, and ceramics.
Dalke hopes to introduce his students to more 3-D art this year, and not just the basics of painting and drawing.
He's always had a passion for art, and now he wants to share it with his students, he said.
"I wanted to show other people how much fun it was," Dalke said.
New elementary school teacher Sharon Jost is no stranger to the Hillsboro school district.
Jost has worked for USD 410 for more than 13 years, 10 of them as a substitute teacher. For the past three year's she's served as a Title 1 teacher's aide.
Beginning this fall, Jost will fill a new position: part-time reading and math teacher for third grade.
In the morning, the two sections of third grade will divide into three reading groups, which will meet in Jost's classroom, she said. After reading is done, Jost will go into the two third-grade classrooms to help the main teacher with math lessons.
Having smaller reading groups should be a real benefit to the students — as will the extra teacher for math, Jost said.
Since she's been an aide before, Jost is already familiar with the teachers and curriculum at school.
"I know what's going on," Jost said.
In the afternoon, Jost will continue to serve as an aide in various elementary classrooms.
Jost, who's originally from Balko, Okla., graduated from Tabor College in 1980. She and her husband, Clyde, have three children: Dionne, who's in college; Dustin, a senior in high school, and Daniel, a sixth-grader.
