Hillsboro, Goessel schools each welcome four new teachers

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN ALEEN RATZLAFF
Four certified teachers who together bring nearly 60 years of experience will join the Unified School District 410 for the 2006-07 school year.

Mickey Harvey will teach Hillsboro Middle School technology classes and technology and technical drawing classes in the high school.

Harvey, who lives with his family in rural Goessel, joins Unified School District 410 after teaching for 19 years. Most recently he taught for 10 years at Sedgwick’s middle and high schools where his load included woodworking, welding, drafting and technology classes.

“I was spread too thin,” he said, adding that he’s looking forward to teaching a narrower focus of classes at Hillsboro.

Harvey, who earned his undergraduate degree from Bethel College, is working on a master’s degree in technology education at Pittsburg University.

Harvey has also accepted two supplemental positions-technology facilitator, responsible for managing the school community access television Channel 45, and co-sponsor for the Technology Student Association.

Claire Overstake will teach fifth grade at Hillsboro Elementary School. She brings 17 years of classroom experience, having taught sixth-grade math and science and coached middle school girls’ track for the last seven years at Fort Scott.

Overstake, who earned her education degree from the University of Kansas, is looking forward to her new position.

“They’re willing to be challenged, but they’re also willing to learn,” Overstake said about teaching fifth-graders.

In a week or so, she’ll join husband Grant, editor of the Hillsboro Star-Journal since May. The Overstakes have two daughters and a son, all in college this fall.

Joining the HHS faculty is Sonya Roberts, who will teach agriculture education classes. Her ag knowledge and experience run deep, both personally and professionally.

“It’s my life-I grew up on a farm…and my father was an ag teacher,” Roberts said.

Roberts, whose husband Rickey is Marion County’s extension agent, has taught for 15 years, most recently in the Peabody-Burns district.

One aspect of teaching she particularly enjoys is introducing students to nontraditional aspects of agriculture, including horticulture.

“I love the plants,” she said.

Asked whether she has plans to add a greenhouse at HHS, Roberts said, “The two schools where I previously taught didn’t have a greenhouse [when I started] and they do now.”

Another teacher will be come on board at Hillsboro Elementary School.

Ellynne Wiebe, who has served as a paraprofessional for Marion County Special Education Cooperative at HES, will replace Michelle Goldsby as the Title I instructor.

Wiebe, who also taught at Tabor College in the teacher ed program, earned her undergraduate degree from Tabor and a master’s degree in bilingual/ multicultural education from the University of Colorado. Previously, she taught first and second grades for six years in Denver.

“I’m looking forward to working with the kids and seeing development with their reading and math skills,” Wiebe said.

Wiebe and husband Jon and their two boys live in Hillsboro.

GOESSEL

Four teachers will join the team at Unified School District 410.

Kenton Allen, hired to teach Spanish for both Goessel and Canton-Galva, brings a broad background of teaching experience. After teaching at Canton-Galva in the mornings, he will teach Spanish in Goessel in the afternoons.

Allen has traveled extensively in Spanish-speaking countries. He also worked for years as a foreign exchange student coordinator. Allen and his wife live in Wichita.

A Kansas State University grad, David Graham will take over the agricultural education classes at Goessel.

Graham taught at Jewell for two years before going to graduate studies at the University of Nebraska.

His experiences allow for a synthesis of agriculture, science, math, problem solving and communication skills.

Rachel Hein said she looks forward to coming to Goessel High School after teaching mathematics for the past four years at Hope.

Hein graduated with high honors from Tabor College with a mathematics degree. She entered teaching through the alternate certification process.

She and her husband reside in Hillsboro.

Joel Hesed, who completed his student teaching at Goessel High School, will teach junior high language arts and coach forensics.

He attended Otis-Bison High School and is a graduate of Bethel College.

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