With the new school year comes new faces of staff. Let’s introduce them, starting with the elementary school’s new teachers.
First is the new second grade teacher, Hallie Tarnick, from Doniphan. Tarnick went to college at Midland University and graduated in December of last year. This is her first year teaching, and she likes how friendly and helpful everyone has been so far at Silver Lake. Tarnick is excited to see the student growth through the year. Tarnick has three sisters and one brother. Her hobbies are shopping, hanging out while her husband farms, watching Netflix, and going to country concerts. The advice she would give to students and teachers is “With everything going on in the world, my advice to students and teachers is to continually be positive and kind to everyone because you don’t know what someone could be going through in their life.”
Next we have the new fifth grade teacher, Jordan Volk. Volk is from Cambridge, Nebraska and attended Hastings College, graduating in 2017 with a degree in elementary education. This will be Volk’s fourth year teaching, before he taught in Elwood, Nebraska as a sixth grade teacher for two years and in Oakley, Kansas as a fifth grade teacher for one year. His favorite part about Silver Lake is how everyone is welcoming and helpful. Volk is excited to be meeting his new fifth grade class and to be helping coach high school football. His hobbies outside of school are sports, the outdoors (bow hunting being his favorite), music, and spending time with his family. Volk has a wife, Tori, identical three month twins, Brooks and Bryson, and a six year old step daughter, Hadley. “Enjoy each day. I know each day can come with its own set of challenges, but hopefully one of the things this COVID situation has taught us is that it’s much, much more enjoyable to be IN school than out of it!” is the advice Volk would give students and teachers this year
Taking over the tile position for Ryan Behmer, who is now the 7-12 special education teacher at the highschool, is Cortney Beurer from Lawrence, Nebraska. Beurer went to high school in Blue Hill, Nebraska, and went to college at Hastings College and completed her masters at Chadron College. From the fall of 2014 to the spring of 2017 she taught at high plains in Clarks then at Harvard public school from the fall of 2017 to the spring of 2020. “Everyone at Silver Lake has been helpful and kind,” said Beurer. She loves working with and seeing the smiling faces of her students. Beurer enjoys riding horses, camping, fishing, and spending time with her husband and their two kids. They also have a dog, two horses, and a kitten. The advice she would give to students and teachers is to do your best, work hard and it will pay off.
Now to introduce some new and old faces in the high school. Returning to the high school is the new secondary English teacher, Teresa Schmidt, from Campbell, Nebraska. Schmidt graduated from UNK. She is a first year teacher and she is excited about her first year being at Silver Lake. Schmidt likes to read, do crafts, and spend time with her family, her husband, Scott, and their three children, Alyssa, Trenton, and Addison. Her advice to teachers and students this year is “Life is what you make of it, never take anything for granted.”
The new front office secretary at the high school, taking over for Cleo who retired, is Michelle Sorenson. Sorenson is from Hastings, and she attended Lincoln school of comners. Sorenson is also a CCD teacher. Her favorite part about working at Silver Lake is the great community. She likes to read and knit. Sorenson and her husband, Ryan, have four children.
As for the familiar faces, Joshua Drake is now the principal with the new superintendent being Terry Bauer. On behalf of all the students and staff at Silver Lake, welcome to the district!
