The New Teachers of City High

Mr. Tyler Hagy originally planned to be a history teacher, but his plans changed and he became City’s new choir teacher this year. “I went to orientation day at Luther [College] and I thought, ‘Well, the history meeting sounds kind of boring. I['m] also thinking about studying economics, but the economics meeting sounds kind of boring. So I’ll just go to the music one,’” Hagy said. �...

At the start of the school year, City High welcomed a host of new teachers. Among them is Mrs. Liz Mollet, an educator in the iJag program. Mrs. Mollet, who worked as a music teacher in Cedar Rapids for K-5 kids, first experienced something similar to iJag as a practicum student working in City High’s Success Center. “I had a really good time working with those teachers and students, and I thought...

Among the new teachers working at City High is Travis Carlson. Although new to City, Carlson has an abundance of experience from working at Northwest Junior High. “I’ve been a teacher in the district for 17 years and at City, I’m excited to teach high schoolers,” Carlson said. ”Having the opportunity to teach psychology has been a career goal that I've found here at City High.” Carlson...

A new teacher has joined the City High science department. Robert W. Crawford III will spend his first year at City High teaching Principles of Engineering and physics. Previously, he taught for four years at the College Community School District, and is eager for the 2018-2019 year at City High. “The student population and the staff are outstanding. When I was coming back to go to school, I did...

Ja’Korey Walker has quickly become a favorite new-student adviser. Walker helps students with his inherent charm and down-to-earth personality. “I work with kids proactively to solve any student issues," he said, "which is basically my responsibility here, to work with kids.” Having come from Fate, Alabama, a small town of roughly five thousand, Walker has found the switch from a small rura...

Now a special education teacher teaching modified classes to small groups of students at City High, Robert Wagner ‘76 first started working as a radio broadcaster for local Cedar Rapids stations such as WMT and K HAWK. After about ten years, he determined it was time to move on to a new job. “I just decided I wanted to do something different,” Wagner said. “I had a college degree from Io...

While many educators decide on their profession after drawing inspiration from their own teachers, Stacie Smith’s motivation was opposite. “My seventh grade science teacher sat at his desk and read the newspaper every single day and then yelled at kids for not being able to memorize things out of the book. I was good at memorizing, but I felt terrible for all of the other kids who hated science,...

Coady Sierra has once again found herself in the halls of City High, this time returning as an alumnus to teach history with dedication and passion. “I am a special education teacher,” Sierra said. “I teach three periods of learning support and then I co-teach a world history class with Mrs. Dickson and a government class with Mr. Burkle.” Before her hiring at City High, Sierra had ta...

After being a paraeducator at City High for three years, Camerron Lee will be joining City as a teacher. Initially, though, Lee would have chosen a different career path. “I wasn’t planning on being a teacher until I was a paraeducator here,” Lee said. “Once I saw how teachers were interacting with students, though, I decided that was what I wanted to do.” Lee originally intended to...