The 2022-23 school year began with an introduction of 19 new staff members at East. According to a report released by the Aspen Institute, which is a nonprofit with a stated aim of the realization of “a free, just, and equitable society,” an additional 310,00 teachers enter the profession every year. 

Last issue of the paper, three staff members, Itzel Armendariz Cepeda, Robert Carraher, and Kaitlyn Keck were covered. This issue, three more staff members will share their experiences: Laura Heath, Mark Coup, and Jennifer Cole. First, is social studies teacher Laura Heath.

“I teach World Religions, American History, and World History here at East. Initially, I had done my practicum here while I was in college. Well, I did my practicum at West, but I really like the Bellevue Public Schools as a district. When I did my student teaching at West, East was hiring, and so I jumped at the opportunity. So I interviewed and here I am,” Heath said.

Heath is a brand new teacher, with Bellevue East being her first official teaching job. Aside from having some prior experience in the Bellevue Public Schools district, Heath mentioned some of her likes and dislikes about her time so far here at East.  

“There’s so much that I enjoy. Not only do I enjoy my relationships with the students that I get to make, but my coworkers are amazing. I really love the school spirit that East has. Bellevue East has a lot of opportunities for not only staff, but also for students to get involved in the community but the school as a whole. I want to stay here as long as I can. That’s my goal right now. So far, the only downside has been figuring things out as a first year teacher. Thankfully, I have great support from staff, students, and administration, but that doesn’t make it easy all of the time. It’s overwhelming, having to plan for three different classes. It can be a lot at times, but at the end of the day, it’s still really great,” Heath said.

With this being Heath’s first time teaching on her own, it is great to hear that she has been enjoying her time here at East so far. Next up to share his experiences, is freshman biology teacher Mark Coup. 

“Before East, I put in six years of teaching. This is my fourth career. I worked in telecommunications, for a company called Cox, and I was basically one of the people who dealt with problems. Before that, I worked in manufacturing and went through a gamut, or should I say gauntlet, of IBM, Motorola, and Intel. By the way, they’re always having layoffs. It got to the point where the layoffs were happening but they weren’t hiring people back and then you just loose your flavors. Before that, I worked in the hotel industry. I did a lot of conferences, and it was kind of fun because you can meet a lot of new people. You meet presidents or CEOs and people running for Congress because they’ve come through for their campaign things and they’re your customers,” Coup said. 

Coup has knowledge and experience in many different fields, and even has prior teaching experience. There are still ups and downs about everything though, and so Coup shares his likes and dislikes about teaching at East.

“I like the people. I’ve gotten to know my peers. They always like to have your back. You can always, if you don’t know something, ask the ‘Do we have this?’ and they can tell you where to find it. They like to joke around, but you can actually go in there and get some strategies and advice that you haven’t thought of because sometimes the people can come up with suggestions on how to teach better. I could go in and watch them teach and pick up some tips and resources. I mean, all of this software is brand new to me. The only bad thing is just that you sometimes run into students who are having a bad day, but the next day it’s a clean slate, so I’m not going to count those,” Coup said.

Much like Coup, Jennifer Cole is a culinary and guiding children teacher. She has previous experience in teaching, having come to Bellevue East after teaching in Louisville. Because of a lengthy commute, Cole decided to come to Bellevue East.

“I always drove to Louisville every day, so I chose Bellevue based on the proximity of where I lived. So far all of the staff is great. Teachers have been very helpful, and so is the administration here. I like how the building just flows. I also teach at West, and it’s very closed off, and the kitchen area here is very nice,” Cole said.

Cole seems to be enjoying her time at East, much like many of the other new teachers. The only complaints that she could come up with were some more simple things based around students and them completing their assignments.

“Maybe students being lazy about assignments getting completed, if I had to complain, but I guess you guys hear that a lot. Hopefully, I’ll find my place here at Bellevue, whether here or at one of the middle schools. Right now I’m traveling between East and West. In the future, maybe it’s finding one place, wherever that may be,” Cole said.