Karen Meyer started her teaching career in 1987 in Venezuela. When she was there, starting her teaching career, she made some great memories and now loves to share them with her students.
“Some of my favorite memories from traveling were going to the beach every weekend, sleeping in hammocks there, and scuba diving,” Karen said.
Some of her favorite memories from when she was teaching came from Venezuela.
“My final year teaching there, we held a unique graduation ceremony that I had planned with the students. There were around 80 kids in this class, and when they walked across the stage, they had a 30-second prerecorded message that would play while they walked across,” Meyers said.
After teaching in Venezuela, she spent the last four years at Iowa City High School as a math teacher at various levels. She has had extensive teaching experience over the years, but also had the opportunity to stay home and spend time with her kids when they were little, allowing her to watch them grow up.
Karen believed in trying to change lives in the classroom, but she also worked to positively impact students’ lives on the court.
“I want to make sure that the kids know that I see them. So I ask them when they walk in, things like How’s it going? How was the game last night? I just try to be personal with the kids and stay as connected as I can with them,” Karen said.
When she went to high school, she played volleyball for four years at Cedar Rapids Washington High School. Then, it was time for college, where she continued her academic and athletic career at Missouri Western State. She played volleyball for two years before having to end her volleyball career.
When she moved to Iowa City 30 years ago, she immediately started her coaching career. She settled down at the Rockets Volleyball Club, and then started her coaching at our very own City High.
“I had this teacher in college, my freshman year, and he was my math teacher, and when he handed me my test grade back, he told me my work was tremendous and he would love to talk to me about it. He told me then how he thought my answers were so creative and he had never seen anything like it, and that teacher really just brought something out of me I never knew I had throughout high school, so I wanted to be that for other kids,” Karen said.
Karen misses the bright smiles of her former students and players, but is enjoying her retirement.
“I love making sourdough bread, and right now I’m also building a gazebo. Yeah, I’m enjoying it, and I’m enjoying being able to do all the hobbies that I love,” Meyer said.
