Joan Radakovich

by Connor Doane

Joan Radakovich, new science teacher, is from the Kansas City area and went to school at the University of Kansas.

A huge Jayhawk fan, she loves going to any KU event. When not teaching, she likes to do triathlons, bike racing and any other kind of racing.

She has been in many triathlons and bike races but her true passion is animals. She really likes to spend time with animals.

She said, “I love acquiring new animals and really like learning about new animals.”

One of her favorite animals are horses. She has owned many horses in the past and really likes to be around horses whenever she can.

When walking into her class, students are greeted with a variety of life. In her classroom, students meet the class pet, Pete the parrot, and it talks. In the morning, multiple students feed and care for the animals.

She really likes her studnts so far. She said, “I feel such a positive energy from these students.

South’s students were very welcoming right when I opened the door. I love these students.”

She said her first year is going great and is excited for the rest of the year.

When she’s not caring for animals or being in a triathlon or bike race, she tends to watch Netflix. She said she doesn’t really have a favorite show, but instead just likes to browse around the options.

But her favorite thing is teaching science and becoming closer to her students.

Jeremy Riggs

by Aysiah Loving

Jeremy Riggs, theatre teacher, is now teaching here.

After attending the University of Kansas, Riggs became a professional actor and stuntman, which he very much adored.

“It was awesome,” Riggs said.

He would describe himself as “outgoing…a story-teller…and a collaborator.” He puts all of these qualities into his work and passion for theatre.

This rookie teacher feels his outgoing personality is one of the many reasons he does theatre. He also absolutely loves to tell stories, which is another reason he chose to teach theatre. He believes theatre is the “ perfect medium for telling stories,” whether it is through a performance or technical work.

Riggs visualizes himself as a collaborator because he loves “to work with people, not for people.” He believes the ability to work with people plays a big role in theatre.

After his stuntman and professional acting career, Riggs began to share his theatre experiences by teaching to college students, he taught stage sword fighting and stuntman classes.

Just a couple years ago, Riggs “felt a calling,” did his research, and found himself wanting to teach high school level theatre. He believed teaching was what he was supposed to do and decided to act upon his calling.

“It kind of hit me that that’s what I need to be doing,” Riggs said.

Once he began teaching, Riggs learned that he is much more patient than he would have ever imagined. He now takes advantage of his newly discovered patience by using it to conquer every day’s challenging encounters.

Taylor Schwartz

by Megan Pham

Taylor Schwartz, FACS teacher, is brand new to the teaching profession.

She is currently teaching Interpersonal and Family Relations, and next semester, Finance and Intro to Human Sciences.

After growing up in Kansas, Schwartz was a student at the East Carolina University in North Carolina, venturing to new places outside Kansas.

“There’s not many things to do there,” she said about her stay in North Carolina. “I missed parts of Kansas and my friends there.”

After she finished college, Schwartz returned to teach in Kansas as she preferred the schools here.

In high school, she took classes in Family Consumer Science and Textile Designs, which inspired her to be a teacher in this field.

She explained that her reason for teaching was to educate students. She wants to see her students succeed in life, to teach them something that they never knew.

Schwartz prefers high school to middle school.“High schoolers are getting their life together, and middle schoolers are all over the place!” she said.

But besides teaching, she has other hobbies. “I’m a grandmother in a young body,” she replied smiling. “I like to bake and sew.”

Before teaching, she worked at Nordstorm, different daycares and a few baking jobs.

She described herself as a good listener. She likes to think she is a nice person, energetic and passionate about teaching, yet pretty chill.

Schwartz sees her job here as positive. “I actually like it,” she said. “Everyone’s nice! Both the staff and the students are nice, more than what I expected!”

Rochelle Spicer

by Sion Worley

One of the new special education teachers in the building is Rochelle Spicer. Her friends suggested that she teach at this school, and she has already learned that it is a great fit for her.

Spicer has been teaching for 28 years, and of those 28 years, she taught at Buffalo, Mo., for four years, spent one year in the Kansas City, Kan., school district, was a long-term sub for one year at Frontier Trail Middle School, and spent the last 22 in the Blue Valley School District, teaching in both high schools and middle schools.

Spicer has many things she likes to do outside of teaching students. To name a few, she likes to hang out with her children, she enjoys reading, baking, and is quite fond of working with plants and herbs.

Her children are 19-year-old Savannah Spicer, sophomore at John Brown University, and 17-year-old Grant Spicer, senior at Blue Valley High School. Her son is into basketball and he dressed up like a banana to ask his girlfriend to Homecoming. Her daughter is involved in cheer, and her major in college is family and youth services. Both are fun and gregarious, and they all like to laugh a lot.

Spicer’s college experience was fine when she went to Evangel College for her undergraduate and the University of Kansas for her master’s.

“My college experience was a great one in both undergrad and graduate college. I learned a lot about myself and what I’m willing to stand up for,” Spicer said.

In college, she was a master of many arts. She was part of a deaf ministry group, was a voice primary in her music major, played the flute, she added, “I was disappointed when the hall voted on the brother floor, because my cousin and brother became part of it.”

She has worked at a few places before and during teaching, including the job of hostess at a dessert bar in the summer. She has also been a tutor.

If she had to choose three words to describe herself, she would choose integrity, consistency and compassion because she feels that she displays all three of these traits.

She has one thing to add: “I love my teammates!”

Dara Tyler

by Staff

The newest health and fitness educator is Dara Tyler. Originally from St. Louis, Tyler moved to Kansas when she was 5 years old has been teaching for 13 years. Before coming here, she taught at California Trail Junior High for seven years and Deer Valley High School in California for a year.

She will miss her old staff from California Trail Junior High and the hot, warm, beautiful weather from Deer Valley High School.

Tyler rocked her way out of University of Kansas with a bachelor’s in health and physical education and a master’s in sports in health science physical education.

Tyler became an educator because she “loves education” and has passion for health and fitness and because it was something she wanted to do from childhood. “Having good teachers enforced” that feeling in her.

Helping students find things they didn’t know about themselves is one reason she loves her job; another one is that it makes people feel better about themselves.

During college, she worked as a server, a nanny and also at Hy-Vee.

Outside of school, she likes to go swimming and to arts and music festivals with her family, and she enjoys having a family dinner once a week, which would include her extended family. She loves to exercise; she exercises for about one to two hours daily. She also likes to try out new things.

Her top two adventures include kayaking in Hawaii with her husband eight years ago and hiking in California with her friends in 2002.

She is out-going. She likes meeting new people and hearing their backstories. She’s very friendly, greeting everyone that comes across her way, and above all she is positive because of her high level of optimism.

Since Tyler has started teaching, she has learned how to be “more flexible with her family and job.”

Tyler loves reading news; some of her news sources include Yahoo, CNN and entertainment magazines. Along with reading the news, Tyler loves to read romance novels.

Tiffany Wichart

by Jillian Walker

Honest, determined, and outgoing. These are three adjectives that the new business and computer teacher, Tiffany Wichhart, feels describe her best.

Wichhart believes she shows honesty in her daily life, determination in her teaching, and charisma in her relationships, which are helpful attributes in her career.

She graduated from Emporia State University and is currently working on her masters degree in education at Fort Hays State University.

Though this is her first high school teaching job, Wichhart’s first teaching experience was at a pre-school that she owned and operated at her home; however, she had a desire to teach older students. She said that since she has begun working here, she doesn’t miss her preschool days.

Wichhart got involved in teaching because she wanted to make a difference in students’ lives. She said that she was very excited about transitioning into being a high school teacher and she thinks her students are amazing.

“I was very nervous on my first day and I dreamt about lesson plans for weeks!” Wichhart said.

She said that she prefers to teach older grades because she can prepare them for the real world as well as get to know her students on a greater level. Wichhart thinks her greatest strength as a teacher is her desire to see the best in all of her students and to help them grow their individual strengths.

“My favorite part about teaching is building relationships with my students,” Wichhart said.

Though she is enjoying working in high school, some things about her first couple of months here have surprised her.

“It’s a lot of grading,” Wichhart said. “I thought I was organized before I started working here!”

When she is not working, Wichhart loves to go to the lake, spend time with her family and take her children to all of their sports practices. She has three children who are 14, 9, and 5 years old.