Emmily McKinzie
Assistant Editor
As students are going to start to come back into the building after being out of school for over a year, it is important for them to learn and get to know the new staff. One of the new staff to SHS this year is someone who has been a substitute teacher at SHS for about 16 years.
Holly Maunu a new online teacher at SHS would be most recognized by substituting for multiple teachers throughout the years. However, at home she spends her time woodworking.
“I do woodworking. For example I use a router (a woodworking tool) to make name signs for camp counselors and name signs for sitting on a desk, create table decorations for weddings and organizations that have events, carve ( with the router) number signs for addresses among a few things,” Maunu said.
Josh Hodney, another new online teacher at SHS strives to encourage and support students along their journeys through high school. Along with his multiple hobbies, he states that if he could describe himself in three words it would be the phrase “joy is intentional.”
“I enjoy time with family and friends, traveling, skydiving, soccer, running, skiing, hiking, coaching, reading, chess, building computers, cooking, changing diapers, and many other things. The pandemic has changed many hobbies with my wife and son (who was born at the beginning of the pandemic),” Hodney said.
A new counselor for SHS, Lexi Vuylsteke also has a few hobbies that she loves to do outside of school, such as cooking, hiking, spending time with family, and playing with her dog.
“I have a Jack Russell Terrier who goes almost everywhere with me, besides school!” Vuylsteke said.
Although there is nothing better than spending time with your dog best friend, Vuylsteke is most looking forward to students coming back into the building.
“Getting to meet students in person and the energy that you all bring to the school! It has been way too quiet here at school without you all,” Vuylsteke said.
Edgenuity teacher PattiRae Yeager is also excited to see students back in the building, however when she is not teaching, she tends to her garden and goes catfishing.
“I love to raise our garden and preserve everything that I grow. My husband and I love to go to the Snake River every summer for a couple weeks fishing for catfish,” Yeager said.
Although fishing and gardening are some of her favorite hobbies, spending time with her grandchildren is one of her most favorite pastimes. However, being a grandma and a teacher are not her only titles.
“Besides the fact that I love to hunt and fish and preserve everything I can get my hands on, I am a Grandma, Mother, Wife, Ordained Minister and a Notary,” Yeager said.
Lindsay Brown, a new math teacher, also has an interest in gardening. In one of her former jobs, she would help coordinate volunteers to build gardens at peoples homes in Portland.
Brown enjoys spending time with her family and pets. During the summer one of the ways she spends time with her family is at powwows.
“My family and I are Native American. I am Turtle Mountain Chippewa and my kids are both Chippewa and Eastern Shoshone. We like to go to powwows, especially in the summer. The kids dance and I feel so proud when I am there,” Brown said.
Brown helps make her kids regalia and has learned those skills from her grandma.
“We haven’t been able to attend any powwows for a while and I am looking forward to when we can again,” Brown said.
Vice Principal Andrea Miller has also had the opportunity to have some amazing experiences. Miller had the chance to to be an extra in a movie.
“I was an extra in a movie with Morgan Freeman (you can see me twice in the first two minutes of the movie!). I got to meet him!” Miller said.
On top of being able to meet movie stars and be in a movie herself, Miller is also a huge baseball fan and enjoys going out to play at the ball field with her family.
“I am a huge Cubs fan, so we try to get back to Wrigley Field to watch a few games every summer,” Miller said.
Miller is excited to have students back in the building and meet and interact with the students in person and for seniors to end their year back in the building.
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