Mill Valley News: What was your previous job before Mill Valley?
Stephanie Attig: Last year, I was at Veritas Christian School in Lawrence. I’ve taught at Lawrence High School, Blue Valley North High School, Lincoln High School in Lincoln, Nebraska, North Star in Lincoln, Nebraska, Santa Fe Trail. I have taught everything. I have taught biology and anatomy and physiology, and I have taught forensic science, physical science and chemistry.
MVN: Tell me about your background. Where did you grow up, and where did you go to college?
SA: I grew up in Southern Illinois, and I crossed the river to Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, for my undergrad. I got my master’s degree at Baker University.
MVN: What are your hobbies and what do you do in your free time?
SA: I love to be with my family and my husband. I like bike riding. We go biking a lot. We like the trails, River Trails and Lawrence and the trails all around the Kansas City area.
MVN: What made you come to Mill Valley?
SA: They had an opening and needed me.
MVN: How long have you been teaching?
SA: This is my 41st year.
MVN: Why did you become a teacher?
SA: Well, I love science and young people, so I also wanted to choose a career that I could stay home with my children and raise them. So education is pretty easy to go in and out of.
MVN: Did you always want to be a teacher?
SA: I was really Pre-dental in college, but then when I graduated and got married, there wasn’t a dental school where my husband was doing his graduate work, so I decided I’d just be a teacher. It’d be hard to go in and out of dentistry.
MVN: What are you most excited about at Mill Valley High School?
SA: Oh, the wonderful students, really are some wonderful students.
MVN: Tell me about an item in your office or at your desk that is important to you.
SA: Probably my grandkids pictures over there. [They] make me happy.
MVN: What else should students know about you?
SA: That I’m here to help them in their journey to becoming whatever they want to become, and that I’m available to help in any way and find it a joy to work with everyone.
MVN: What was your previous job?
LB: I came from Shawnee Mission, where I was for 10 years. Prior to that, I was over at Mill Creek and Monticello. So all in all, I’ve been teaching for 23 years.
MVN: What do you teach?
LB: Physical Education
MVN: Tell me about your background. Where did you grow up and where’d you go to college?
LB: I grew up not too far away from here, over in Lenexa, went to Shawnee Mission Northwest. After that, I went to a small junior college, Neosho County Community College, then to Arkansas, Little Rock and from there, went to Penn State, KU and Baker University.
MVN: What are your hobbies? What do you do in your free time?
LB: Anything active, I’m very active. I love coaching. When I’m not coaching I really enjoy bike rides, plays, triathlons, they have these sprint triathlons that I really enjoy. Anything that’s active, and rock climbing too. That’s where you see me and fishing.
MVN: What made you come to Mill Valley?
LB: I love this place. I’ve been coaching here, or part of the DeSoto district, for 23 years since I first started, even while I was gone for 10 years in Shawnee Mission, I was coaching wrestling at Mill Creek, baseball here at Mill Valley. I’ve coached basketball here at Mill Valley, and this is a fantastic place.
MVN: Why did you choose to become a teacher?
LB: I had a coach, Coach Tomlin. So once I figured out I wasn’t making it pro I went back and thought of him and how much joy he had in physical education, and I thought that would be a perfect job.
MVN:. What was it that you wanted to go pro in?
LB: I was looking to go pro in baseball, if I could. But baseball was the best shot, and when that didn’t work out, I started giving lessons and working with kids, and it fostered to where I really enjoyed it, and this gave me a platform to where I can work with kids and still coach sports.
MVN: When did you start playing baseball?
LB: I played all the way growing up. When I was finished playing at Little Rock, I was able to go coach at Neosho two years in college, and as soon as I got back here, I hopped on with Mill Valley to coach. From then on, I started picking up wrestling and basketball. Then as my kids grew up, I was coaching them in soccer and volleyball.
MVN: What is your favorite thing, or what are you most excited about at Mill Valley?
LB: The students and staff are absolutely amazing people, the positive energy that you feel when you walk in the door, and it stays with you all the way till you leave at six or seven at night.
MVN: What is an item in your office that is especially important to you?
LB: The picture of my family helps me always remember why it is that you work hard to be a good example, to show them, and to be a loving, supportive husband.
MVN: So that item represents the importance of that?
LB: Yeah, and the truth, where it came from. God above has blessed me, so hopefully we can bless kids, right? Treat people the way you want to be treated.
MVN: Why do you keep it in your office?
LB: I keep it as a reminder and a reflection of what’s all good and all right.
MVN: Last thing, what else should students know about you, anything else important?
LB: They should know that I care about them and their future, and I’d like for them to succeed and know that hard times will come, but you can make it through.
Mill Valley News: What was your previous job?
Suzie Benson: I was the accompanist at Leavenworth High School.
MVN: Tell me about your background, where you grew up, and where you went to college.
SB: I grew up in Leavenworth, Kansas and went to Leavenworth High School. After that, I went to the University of Kansas, and then we moved to Shawnee in 2022. My daughter has been going to Mill Valley since her freshman year. She’s a senior now.
MVN: What are your hobbies and what do you do in your free time?
SB: I really like to run. I run Ultra distances on trails. I have run everything from 5k and 10k, 50k -50 miles, 100 miles.
MVN: What made you come to Mill Valley?
SB: It’s close to home, and my daughter goes here. My boys are at Monticello Trails Middle School, so they’ll be coming up here too. It’s five minutes from home, and I really love the program here, too. I came to a lot of the choir concerts last year, and I was just so impressed with the program. So when I heard that the accompanist here was retiring, I thought that was a good opportunity for me to become a part of this.
MVN: How long have you been teaching for?
SB: I have been teaching in public schools and this is my fifth year, but I have also taught private piano and voice lessons for 20 years.
MVN: Why did you become a teacher?
SB: It more sort of happened to me. I was a performance major. I enjoy teaching smaller groups of people, which is why I’m not a choir teacher or a band teacher. I prefer to work more one on one with kids or in a section, like just the sopranos or just the altos. I enjoy pulling their talent out of them, like seeing something in them and giving them the instruction that they need to pull that out of them. That’s exciting for me. I love to see the growth from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. That’s what I love about teaching.
MVN: What did you want to be before you became a teacher?
SB: I wanted to be an opera singer.
MVN: What are you most excited about here at Mill Valley?
SB: I think I’m just excited to be a part of such a prestigious program. They do so many wonderful things with the choir and the theater program too. I’ve never seen kids that are so involved in the music scene in a high school before.
MVN: What is an item on your desk that is important to you?
SB: My binder of music.
MVN: What does the item represent and why do you keep it there?
SB: My binder has all of my music in it, so it’s literally everything that I have to do and that I have to teach. So it just keeps me organized.
MVN: Is there anything else students should know about you?
SB: I’m really easy to talk to and they can come to me if they need help.
Mill Valley News: First question, what was your previous job?
Jennifer Hansen: My previous job to this was I was the district transition assistant for special education. I was housed out of Mill Valley, but I went to DeSoto and all of the middle schools basically doing assessments and stuff like that for students to be able to progress from one grade to the next.
MVN: Where did you grow up and where did you go to college?
JH: I grew up in Shawnee, Kansas, and believe it or not, I went to dental school. I’m a registered dental hygienist. Still, I have a dental license. I went to Johnson County Community College to get my license for hygiene. Prior to that, in the dental field, I went to UMKC dental school.
MVN: What are your hobbies and what do you do in your free time?
JH: I don’t know if you’d call it crafting, but like, computer graphic stuff, fiddling with things like that, and learning that kind of stuff. Otherwise, in my free time, if I get it, it’s usually sporting events. It’s like time to be able to just veg out and get rid of the day in my head and try to relax.
MVN: What made you come to Mill Valley?
JH: Actually I have been in the district for seven years, my previous job was as the district transition assistant, I was able to be housed out of Mill Valley. With the location, we just lived down the street, so it was perfect, and plus, my kids go here.
MVN: How long have you been teaching?
JH: I’ve been in the district since 2003.
MVN: Why did you want to become a teacher?
JH: At the beginning, for convenience, because my parents were actually our babysitters, and then when they got old enough that it was difficult to watch the kids while I went to work and my husband works so, we decided I would quit doing dental hygiene to raise the kids. Then I saw this doing the Substitute and Para, where you could work whenever you wanted to, so it just kind of started there
MVN: What did you want to be before you became a teacher?
JH: Well I was a dental practitioner.
MVN: What is your favorite thing and what are you most excited about at Mill Valley High School?
JH: That’s hard to say, because I really loved working with students, with doing the assessments, and being able to get out of the building and travel and do things where this now, being the building Secretary when I clock in half the time I eat my lunch at my desk and I’m working until I leave, so it’s just a different environment.
MVN: Tell me about an item in your office or at your desk that is important to you.
JH: I have a picture of my kids
MVN: What does this item represent? And why do you keep it here?
JH: I think everybody has to have a picture of their kids on their desk. I think that’s just a given. That’s a given, but probably because they’re my kids and they went here. Peyton graduated last year and Macy’s a junior.
MVN: What else should students know about you?
JH: I think that I am an approachable person and anyone can talk to me.
Mill Valley News: What’s your previous job before you became a teacher? Or did you just work somewhere else?
Jennifer Harp: So far, I worked in college offices when I was in college, but I did not work anywhere else really.
MVN: Yeah, what’s your background? Where did you grow up? Where did you go to college?
JH: My dad was in the Navy, so we lived several places. I went to high school in Great Bend Kansas. Went to Barton County Community College and then to Emporia State.
MVN: Do you have any hobbies, what do you do in your free time?
JH: I like to read and I like to kayak in the summer.
MVN: What made you come to Mill Valley?
JH: I have taught here before, and I was ready to come back, and I missed my department and the school.
MVN: How long have you been teaching?
JH: Oh boy, 34 or 32 years.
MVN: How do you like teaching?
JH: I do like it, sometimes it’s harder than others, but I do like it.
MVN: What made you become a teacher?
JH: I was sitting in my French class when I was a freshman in high school, and I just thought this would be fun to do.
MVN: Was there anything else you wanted to do before you thought about becoming a teacher, like any other jobs?
JH: I would have liked to have been a police officer and detective.
MVN: That sounds fun. What’s your favorite thing about Mill Valley so far? Anything you’re excited about?
JH: I’m excited to see a fun homecoming again, and I am excited to be with my department, because we’re great.
MVN: Tell me about your room, it is really pretty. What makes you design it the way you do? Is there anything you think about when you come in?
JH: Just to have a lot of stuff. I do not like a blank wall.
MVN: I know a lot of students agree with that. What is something you’d like students to know about you?
JH: I am pretty calm, but that doesn’t mean I am not happy, or it doesn’t mean I’m not mad.
Mill Valley News: What was your previous job?
Erin Kessler: Last year, I was a consulting teacher for special education. I was in the 501 Topeka Public Schools district. I was at Topeka High School last year. A year before that, I was at Topeka West. Before that, I was a special education teacher at Washburn Rural.
MVN: Tell me about your background: Where did you grow up? Where did you go to college?
EK: I went to Washburn Rural as a high school student, and then I started at Missouri State. I was a swimmer. I transferred to KU. I ended up finishing my bachelor’s degree at KU in comparative religious studies, and then I went to law school at Washburn University in Topeka, and I graduated with a doctorate. And then I started studying for the bar, and my mom was a school social worker. And while I was studying for the bar, I started subbing as a para educator. And I was thinking, What am I doing? I don’t want to take the bar and become a lawyer. I want to be a teacher. And so I got a job as a full time para, and then I went back and got a second bachelor’s degree in special education, and then I became a teacher full time, and then I went back and got a master’s degree in educational administration, and then that’s when I moved over to that consulting teacher position, and then I started a doctorate degree last year in educational administration. I’m thinking it’s my last one, but I don’t know. Never stop getting degrees. Keep getting education.
MVN: What are your hobbies/what do you do in your free time?
EK: I meditate. I like to walk my dog a lot. That’s the big one. I like to exercise; I lift and I run. I like to listen to audiobooks a lot.
MVN: What made you come to Mill Valley?
EK: I was looking to move to Kansas City, and then this position opened, and I applied for it. There’s something about this place, it’s special. You can tell when you walk in here, when you see the kids in the class, when you meet the staff, there’s definitely something special going on here.
MVN: How long have you been teaching?
EK: I always say about a decade. I graduated from law school in December 2012, and I started as a para that fall, so I’ve been in the education field since then.
MVN: Why did you become a teacher?
EK: When I got in there with the kids, the day would go so quick, and it was so enjoyable. I spent a lot of time and money on the law degree, and to leave that and completely change career paths was very difficult, but I’m very fortunate that I’m doing something I love, and I wish that for everyone.
MVN: What did you want to be before you became a teacher?
EK: I thought I was going to be a lawyer before becoming a teacher.
MVN: What is your favorite thing/what are you most excited about at MVHS?
EK: I’ve been getting into a lot of classrooms and seeing the kids, and how engaged you are in the classes is just mind-blowing, because I’ve been in several different schools, and you guys are unbelievable. I’m really excited to see the different traditions that you guys have here at school, like Blue Bomb. I’m excited to see that in the football games. And the tradition here runs so deep, which is not true of most districts that I have seen.
MVN: Tell me about an item in your office or at your desk that is important to you. What does this item represent?
EK: This, for me, is my everyday kind of thing, because it’s very easy to get into the negative. But choosing joy when life is hard, so there’s always a rainbow.
MVN: Why do you keep it here?
EK: Because work can get hard. When you’re here and you can’t take a break and get a bird’s eye view of things, you have to have those little reminders throughout the day that there is a bigger picture, so I keep that here as a reminder.
MVN: What else should students know about you?
EK: A fun fact that I like to share with people is that I play a mean game of UNO. I just got really good at it while I was working as a para educator. I’m also really excited to be here. I’m excited to work with you guys, and I’m thankful that you guys have been so welcoming and gracious, and the student body is phenomenal. The students are so mature and well spoken. So just thank the student body for being incredible.
Mill Valley News: What was your previous job before this?
Lisa Rockhold: I was at Lansing Middle School, sixth grade.
MVN:Tell me about your background. Where did you grow up? Where did you go to college?
LR: I grew up on the East Coast.I’m originally from Dunmore, Pennsylvania, which is near Scranton, Pennsylvania, home of “The Office.” I grew up around there. My undergrad was in graphic design, and I wanted to be an art teacher, but I did a lot of subbing in the DeSoto area and surrounding areas, and I was getting a lot of jobs in the special ed department, so I decided to get my special education teacher’s license. So I’ve been doing that. I started off as a parent, and now I’m a teacher.
MVN: What are your hobbies? What do you do in your free time?
LR: I love to read. I crochet. I like to make dolls or the crocheted little animals, I like to do that and make blankets. I do a lot of crafts. Spend time with my dogs.
MVN: What made you come to Mill Valley?
LR: I was in the district as a para educator before I became a teacher.
MVN: How long have you been teaching?
LR: This is my eighth year of teaching.
MVN: Why did you become a teacher?
LR: I became a teacher because I wanted to be able to make a difference more than what I already was as a para.
MVN: What did you want to be before becoming a teacher?
LR:I wanted to be an art teacher before I was a SPED teacher.
MVN:What is your favorite thing and what were you most excited about at Mill Valley High School?
LR: I’m most excited about teaching high school students. I was in middle school for so long, and it’s refreshing to see how students grow from being little middle school students that are just trying to find their way in the world, to high school students who are like, “Yeah, I can do this.” I find life interesting and you have found more things to talk about, and your insights are very deep.
MVN:Tell me about an item in your office or on your desk that is important to you.
LR:I would say the pictures of my family. I have a picture of my daughter, my granddaughter, my younger cousins.
MVN: What does this item represent?
LR: My family, they are very important to me.
MVN: Why do you keep it there?
LR:I keep the pictures close by to remind me why I do what I do.
MVN: What else should students know about you?
LR: I don’t know. I’m pretty quirky. I have a very relaxed room. I love all things Disney and Marvel, so I’m into all of that and I probably will be their best cheerleader to go throughout school.
Mill Valley News: What was your previous job?
Lisa Turney: The last place I was at was called Star Base, and it’s a Department of Defense outreach program, and we just teach STEM to fifth graders.
MVN: Where was that? Was it in Kansas?
LT: It is in Kansas. It’s at the Lenexa armory. It was a real fun job, it was basically an educational field trip. That’s the best description of what we did.
MVN: What made you want to teach at Mill Valley?
LT: When I switched to Starbase, it was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the kids and everything, but you never knew what happened to the kids. You would see them once a week, for five weeks, and then never see them again, and it bothered me a lot. I didn’t realize how much it bothered me not to see where they went. They were all excited, and like “Oh, I love science. I’m so excited for it!” and then I never knew what happened to them.
MVN: Tell me about your background. Where did you grow up?
LT: I lived in Belton, Missouri, which is where I’m from. It is a great town, my parents and everybody in my family still live there.
MVN: Where did you go to college?
LT: I went to Mizzou, and I got a degree in meteorology. I did television and radio for a while, and then I worked for a private forecasting company. Then, one day, the clients there were telling me you should teach. I was like, That’s a great idea. That’s when I switched, and I went back and got my master’s in teaching, and the rest is history, I guess. Then I worked at Odessa, Missouri, and then I went to Blue Valley, and then to Star Base. Now I’m here.
MVN: What are your hobbies? What do you like to do in your free time?
LT: I don’t have a lot of free time because I’ve got three kids, and they’re all involved in lots of sports. But I like to sew, I really enjoy sewing. And I really enjoy anything science, so I’ll do science experiments if there’s weather coming in, chasing storms.
MVN: How long have you been teaching?
LT: Over 20 years, and I’ve done K through college. I’ve taught every type of kid.
MVN: Is there ever any grade you haven’t taught?
LT: No. I did a year at Linwood Elementary, so I did K through five, and I had every kid at that building in STEM technology. Then the middle school experiences for outreaches through Star Base, and then from nine through 12. I even taught at Blue Valley, and here, obviously. And then I taught at UMKC for college.
MVN: Why did you become a teacher?
LT: I really enjoy teaching kids science. I want them to be scientifically literate, and I just love bringing it in a way that’s fun, and not ‘sit down and write some notes’. I try to always do some type of hands-on activities, so that they get excited about what they’re doing and understand how it relates to the real world. I just enjoy working with kids and helping them get to that point.
MVN: What did she want to be before you became a teacher?
LT: I originally wanted to be a veterinarian, specifically for cats. I just saw a cat really injured, and I don’t know if my heart could take that. But, I always loved weather, and so then I was like ‘that would be kind of a fun thing’. When I was in junior in high school, was when I switched and decided I wanted to be a meteorologist.
MVN: What is your favorite thing about Mill Valley so far?
LT: How everybody, students and staff, have been so welcoming. It’s fantastic.
MVN: What are you most excited about while working at Mill Valley?
LT: I’m just excited to see all the traditions that Mill Valley has because I’ve been hearing about them. Everybody’s giving me a little piece of like, what happens. I’m just excited to see what it all looks like.
MVN: Can you tell me about an item in your room or at your desk that’s important to you and what it represents?
LT: I’ve got two things. They’re both science-related. I have a seismograph that sits right next to you, and it measures earthquakes across the world. And I just, I love live science equipment, that’s happening. So every movement you’re making, it kind of picks up on it. And then I’ve got that back there, which is, it’s a live feed from the International Space Station. It’ll light up if the Space Station goes overhead.
MVN: Is there anything else that you think students should know about you?
LT: Just that I love science. I love talking about science. I love building rockets. I just love doing all things like that.
