Incoming KPS staff is excited for 2016-17

Kimball students may not yet be ready for the beginning of the school year, but Kimball Public Schools is already preparing, having hired eight new teachers and a new school nurse with a great mix of familiar and new faces.

The one non-teaching position open in the district was that of the school nurse which has been filled by Kimball native Emily Stull.

Stull graduated from Kimball High in 2008 and from WNCC Scottsbluff with her Associates in Nursing in 2012.

“I finished my Bachelors from Nursing in 2014, and am currently working on a Master’s program from Chamberlain College of Nursing based in Chicago,”she said.

She enjoys traveling, keeping active and spending time with friends and family, including her six-year-old son, Hayden.

“I ran a half marathon (13.1 miles) in May, and am training for a full marathon for my 26th birthday in September,” she said. “This first year I really just hope to get into the swing of things and make sure that we are meeting all of the requirements of the State of Nebraska for school nurses.”

Stull added that she hopes to encourage wellness among Kimball’s students and their families as well as encouraging healthy eating and and an active lifestyle.

“I also hope to start a health occupations club to encourage our students to purse a field in the medical career,” she said.

Tiffany Dea was previously a special education para-educator at Kimball schools and will return this year, following a three year hiatus to finish her teaching degree, to teach Kindergarten.

Dea and her husband, Luke, also a Kimball Public School teacher, have three children, Kale, 5, Eleanor, 3, and Owen, born April 27, 2016.

Though she took a break from teaching, Dea remained active in the school district by coaching cheer and dance in addition to teaching dance outside of school and participating in the Kimball Community Theatre.

“I am excited about so many things for this upcoming school year,” she said. “It is going to be a great year!”

Kimball County native Katie (Schnell) Culek received her B.A. in Elementary Education from Chadron State College after attend Iowa Central Community College on a golf scholarship.

Culek, a 2002 graduate from Kimball High School, married Bob Culek and together they have four children, Aubrey, 8, Britton, 5, Cashlyn, 3 and Decker, 1.

Culek will be teaching English in the 2016-17 school year and will be the girls’ golf coach at Kimball High School.

“I am excited about this new journey and am looking forward to making my students become lifelong learners. I am also going to be the girls golf coach and this is something I have wanted to do for many years,” Culek said. “I am most excited about being in a classroom setting because I have several year of experience outside of the classroom. It has been my dream to be working with children in a classroom setting.”

Kelleigh Huff, will be the new Science teacher in Kimball.

She is originally from Oklahoma and graduated from Oklahoma State University with a degree in education. She is able to teach science, health and physical education.

Huff, wife of Kimball Police Chief Darren Huff, taught for ten years prior to moving to Kimball. The couple have five children, Korynne, Sage, Raleigh, Kingston, and Gabriel.

Jordon Sukup, who student taught at Mary Lynch Elementary last Spring, grew up just down the highway, in Sidney and attended Peru State College in Nebraska.

“While at Peru I played collegiate golf, graduated with an elementary education (K-8 ) degree – CumLaude,” she said. “My teaching style is ‘teaching between the desks’, you are never sitting behind the desk. You are always with students, it helps you get to know your students but it also helps me assess each of my students.”

Sukup’s hobbies include golf, which she said is her go-to relaxation and crafting new items for her home.

“I’m so excited about the school year; I am excited to be a part of the team that I was able to student teach with,” said Sukup.

New faces abound as well, such as that of Christine Lewis, the new Spanish teacher at Kimball High School.

Lewis attended and graduated high school at Skyline High in Longmont, Colo. and went on to study Music Performance at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

“I left school to marry my husband Joe Lewis and have a family, and in 1995 I began to study Music Education at the UNK in Kearney, where I graduated with a B.A. in Music Education with a K-12 endorsement,” she said. “Once I began teaching my principal asked if I would like to also teach Spanish. I said yes, and began studying Spanish Education at Chadron State College. I finished my Spanish study at Nebraska Weslyan University in Lincoln and hold a 7-12 endorsement in Spanish Education.”

Her hobbies are crocheting and cooking and she also enjoys carpentry. She and her husband Joe have a son, Samuel, 32, a daughter-in-law of four years, Jennifer and 13-month-old twin granddaughters, Zoe and Leela. Lewis stated that she believes her new career at KPS will be an adventure for her.

“Meeting new students and getting to know them is part of that adventure. I am also looking forward to working with the dedicated staff at KPS,” she said. “I want to be part of an education team that works to help students develop knowledge of themselves, their community and their world. It sounds rather cliché but I believe that every teacher has this idea in them that motivates them to do their job well.”

Sarah Parsons, a 2011 graduate of Elmwood-Murdock High School in Murdock, Nebr., received her B.M.E and B.S.E from Concordia University in December of 2015.

Parsons will teach English 9, English 11, High School Reading, third grade music, and will assist with Show Choir.

“I am excited to get my feet on the floor in my first year of teaching, I am excited to get to know the students and the staff,” she said. “I plan to bring to the table a fresh energy to the KPS staff. I am an eager teacher ready to put into action what I have been preparing for in the last five years of my education.”

Parsons enjoys playing the organ and piano, as well as spending time with her husband, Bushnell resident, Woodrow Parsons. The Parsons were married earlier this year in January.