Teacher Interviews




New Teacher Interview: Morgan Kelley
By: Adam Krog


Morgan Kelley is from Marion, Iowa. This is her first year of teaching.  While attending the University of Northern Iowa in 2007, she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in athletic training. Two years later, she went back to school to get her teaching degree. In 2012, Morgan went to Mount Mercy University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary education.
           Morgan says, "I always knew whatever I would end up doing would involve helping people. After I was out of school for a while, I realized that what I was meant to do was teach. After being a teacher for 4 months I know I definitely made the right choice. I love what I do."
While teaching at Central City Schools, Morgan wishes to prepare the students for future success both in school and in the real world. She wants to instill confidence and desire in all her students. She says that she wants them to know that they can and will be whatever they put their minds to.
As a teacher, she expects students to always do their best and believe in themselves. She also expects everyone to be respectful, caring, and kind.
Morgan feels right at home here at Central City. Her dad, Doug, is a referee for both football and basketball and graduated from Central City in 1978. Her grandma Joanne Kelley, was a 4th grade teacher here and her grandpa Al taught junior high math here.
When asked what she thinks she can bring to this school that was lacking before, Morgan replied, "I can't say that the school is lacking anything, but what I can bring to the school is a positive attitude, high energy, new ideas, and creativity."
                Morgan is also a huge fan of country music and has been to at least one country music concert a year for the past 8 years.


Teacher Interview: Jennifer Smith
By Adam Krog
Jennifer was born in Michigan. When she was one-year-old, her family moved from Michigan to Texas. Her family leaved in Texas for seven years. Finally, her family settled in Cedar Rapids, where Jennifer attended school. Jennifer currently lives in Center Point, IA.
This is Jennifer's third year of teaching. She taught for two years at Hand in Hand in Marion where she taught three and four-year-old preschool. She is now teaching three-year-old preschool at ABC in Central City.
When she was five-years-old, her mom had an in home daycare, and ever since then she has wanted to teach. She pursued her dreams by going to UNI and earning an Early Childhood Degree with an endorsement in special education.
Jennifer says, "What I hope to accomplish with the three-year-olds is for them to be able to: stand in a line nicely, play with other friends, feel comfortable with talking to adults, and to recognize and spell their first names." She expects her students to treat others the way they want to be treated and sit nicely at circle time.





Teacher Interview: Mrs. Gander
By: Jeff McGovern
            Mrs. Gander is a new kindergarten teacher at Central City. She is from Central Iowa and just moved to Marion in May. She has been teaching for 5 years, and went to college at Central College and Viterbo University. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Central College and a Master of Arts degree from Viterbo University.
She decided she wanted to become a teacher when she began college. She said, " I feel that a good education is a great foundation for future success, and that's why I wanted to be part of education." She expects that her students engage in the learning process and strive to get better every day. 
She has a husband named Ben, a daughter named Brynna, who is two and a half years old, and a son named Braylan, who is 1.
She says that she can bring experience implementing an elementary-wide curriculum that meets Iowa Core Standard.






Teacher Interview: Ms. Cline
By: Katie Sackett

                There is another new face here at Central City Community School District, Ms. Sheryl Cline. She was born in Des Moines, Iowa. She was born 14 minutes before her twin sister, Sara.
            Ms. Cline grew up in Malcolm, Iowa, and went to school a BGM. She first went to college at Wartburg for 1 semester, then transferred and got her AA from Marshalltown Community College. She then transferred to Mt. Mercy and graduated with her BA in psychology. She graduated from The University of Iowa in May with her MA in School Counseling.
            This is her first year as a counselor, but she had internship experiences at Springville MS/HS and Cleveland Elementary in Cedar Rapids.
When asked what she wants to accomplish as a teacher her response was, "I hope to develop relationships with students from preschool through high school. I am currently providing guidance lessons to every elementary class at least 2 times per month and am teaching careers to the 8th graders. I hope that I can do more groups at the elementary level, and I want to help more high school students as they plan for college and careers. I also would like to advocate for all students to achieve their future goals."
When asked what she wants the students to accomplish she said, "I want all students to learn how to interact appropriately with peers and to be able to find a connection between their education and careers/future plans."
“One thing that I would change is to be able to have more time to do more things. Being the only counselor, it is sometimes difficult to meet the needs of all students or do all of the things I want to do in a day,” says Cline.
            When asked what she wanted to be when she was younger she said, "I can remember wanting to be different things as I grew up. The first career I remember wanting to have is to be a teacher, but I bounced around between that and a zoologist or marine biologist. In high school, I told everyone that I DID NOT want to be a teacher, but I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do."
So far, she has felt very welcomed and people seem excited to have her here, especially the elementary students. "Conversations with parents have been positive.”






New Teacher Arrival: Ms. Jessica Kremer
By: John Langer

            Jessica Kremer was born on October 3, 1976, and is thirty-six-years-old. She was raised in Newhall, Iowa. This small town in Benton County has a population of only 875 people. She first had a career as a radiology technician (a person who performs x-ray examinations on patients), but once she began training other student technicians during her second shift she found her love for teaching.
            Jessica went to the University of Iowa to get her Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education and a science degree. She is a big time Hawkeye fan and has many posters in her classroom. Jessica has been teaching for four years. She went overseas for two years and taught at an America International School in Lisbon, Portugal, but decided to come back to Iowa to be closer to her family.
            Jessica has a great connection with all of her family. She has a son and daughter, two nieces and a one nephew, plus three siblings; one that is close to home in North Liberty, one in Kansas City, and one in Los Angeles. She enjoys the fact that she gets to travel a lot to see her family.
            At Central City, Jessica teaches 5th and 6th grade science and social studies. "Why is it that I'm learning, what is it that I am learning" is one of her big philosophies in school. It is  also what she would like her students to ask themselves when they walk into her classroom. If students don't have a reason to learn, then what she teaches them will mean almost nothing. She expects students to ask a lot of questions.






Teacher Interview: Jim VonLehmden
By: Adam Krog

Mr. Jim VonLehmden was born in Independence Iowa. He grew in a nearby town, Rowley. He has been teaching for 12 years.
Before he came to Central City, he taught in the Springfield Illinois area. He went to college at the University of Illinois in Springfield. He received his bachelors in history, with minor in international relations and education.
Mr. VohLehmden is part of the United States Army. At the end of his duty in the Army, he decided to take the government funding and go back to school to become a teacher.
 He hopes to help kids succeed in classes and prepare them for their future. He expects kids to learn to help themselves in order to succeed.




New Teacher Arrival at Central City High School: Mr. Carlson
By: Jeff McGovern
Mr. Tanner Carlson is a new teacher here at Central City High School. In addition to him being the new social studies teacher, he will be the new boys basketball head coach.
Mr. Carlson is from Annawan, Illinois, which is half an hour away from the Quad Cities. He is an only child, but he says that his mom and dad are like bigger siblings to him. He also has a dog, named Gus.
This is his first year teaching. He went to the University of Wisconsin Platteville for 2 years then transferred to Knox College for 2 years. He double majored in secondary education and social science education. He also has a middle school endorsement.
He decided to become a teacher in his junior year of high school when he did a TA (teacher assistant) with his high school P.E. teachers; he found out that he enjoyed working with the younger students. 
When asked what he hopes to accomplish here at Central City he responded, "I hope to get more students interested in social studies and find exciting ways to teach so that the students can make social studies relevant to real world issues.”
Mr. Carlson expects his students to come to class prepared and ready to learn. He also expects them to be prepared to participate in any discussions prepared for the day.
When asked what he hopes to bring back to the school that has been lacking lately he said, "For basketball, he hopes to bring back a winning attitude toward the team and get things going on the right track. In the classroom he hopes to bring excitement, so that the students are excited to learn.”



Teacher Interview: Sarah Ritchie
By: Katie Sackett
            There is another new face at Central City High School. Ms. Sarah Ritchie was born at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
            She went to Wartburg College in Waverly. While there, she received a degree in science teaching. This year is her first full year of teaching. She teaches the following science classes: chemistry, physical science, and physics.
            She hopes to aspire students to love science and understand the importance of education for their future. She wants students to have a great understanding of science when they are finished with school. Her goal for her classroom is that students accomplish independent learning skills from her classes. When asked what she liked about Central City High School she said, "I like all of the great people I work with everyday, that includes students and staff.




New Teacher Arrival: Erin Marshall
By: John Langer
                Ms. Erin Marshall is the new high school math teacher at Central City High School. She was born May third and is twenty-one-years-old. She is from Lenexa, Kansas (twenty miles from Kansas City). She has one older brother studying to be a music teacher at the University of Oklahoma. Her parents live in the same house she grew up in (in Kansas).
                 Marshall knew she wanted to be a teacher ever since her freshman year in high school. She taught a religion class one hour per week until the end of her high school career. During high school she hated math, until her senior year. While in high school, Marshall thought, “I hate math, this is the last math class I am ever going to take.” Then by the end of the year she said, “I wanted to be a math teacher. I have no idea how he did it!"  She was referring to her high school calculus teacher.  She went to college at Wartburg College and has Bachelors of Arts in Math and Math Education. She graduated in only three years. 
                 Her classes at Central City High School include: advanced math (pre- calculus), geometry, calculus, pre-algebra, and seventh grade advanced math. Marshall expects all of her students to try their best and to push themselves. She will also push each of her students by finding their interest and building her teaching method around that. "Even the smartest kid in the class, I am going to try and challenge someway shape or form," said Marshall.






New Teacher
By: Tom Alatalo

Another new smiling face arrives at Central City Community School District. Mrs. Wendy Yoder was born on February 5th, 1975. She has two brothers, Jason and Erik.
 Mrs. Yoder graduated from Central City High School and continues to live and support the community. When she was in high school, her least favorite subject was math.
She attended Wartburg and received her Bachelors of Music Education.
Currently, Mrs. Yoder teaches parenting, foods and you, 7th grade health, 8th grade teen living. She also serves as an associate in the library.
She expects her students to respect their fellow classmates and to do their best!





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