As school began on Sept. 3, four new staff members at Olds High School were eager to make it an even better place for students to learn.
Libby Clark, Jana Kemmere, Melanie Hillier and Kent Lorenz come to the school with a variety of teaching backgrounds and experience, but all are in agreement that they want to work with other staff at the school to make the learning environment good for students.
Clark comes to OHS after teaching eight years in Manitoba schools and four years in schools in Alberta. She started at OHS in February at the beginning of the second semester in 2012-13, but is eager to get more involved in the school this year. She will be teaching math, sciences, art and drama.
Clark said while her teaching background is mostly in math and science, she always had an interest in drama dating back to her own high school days, and when she began teaching in Manitoba she got involved with assisting drama groups during productions.
“When I was in high school, and even when I was teaching my eight years of math in Manitoba, I was always involved with the drama department, not specifically in the classroom but (assisting),” she said.
Clark is looking to build on what she started in February.
“I just want to be able to get more involved in the school community this year,” she said.
Kemmere is making a return to OHS this year after having started her career at the school in 2008. She taught one year at the former high school site before leaving the next year to teach at Ecole Deer Meadow School. Kemmere will teach Grade 9 science, social studies and Language Arts 9.
“For me, I'm excited to have the students fresh from Deer Meadow, because I know where they've come from and I want to really help them use Grade 9 as a transition year to get them ready for high school and all the decisions and choices and opportunities that they have as they start out their high school subjects,” she said.
Kemmere is also looking forward to working with the staff.
“It's such a strong community. Everyone is so encouraging and helpful,” she said.
Melanie Hillier is beginning her ninth year of teaching. She has previous experience in B.C., Saskatchewan and four years in Alberta. Hillier will teach a variety of Grade 9 subjects, concentrating on building the new French Immersion program at OHS.
“The biggest thing is to build a strong foundation for the French Immersion program,” she said.
Kent Lorenz is joining the staff as a vice-principal. He previously worked as a teacher and vice-principal at Innisfail High School for the past 19 years. He said Chinook's Edge School Division has always been great at sharing ideas for improvement of schools and he hopes to continue learning from other administrators throughout the division to improve OHS and CESD.
“If (their administrators) have good ideas, we may be able to implement them here,” he said.
Lorenz also wants to improve upon graduation rates at the school, exam results and generally build a good school atmosphere.
