By Heather Jensby
There are three new staff and faculty members joining the Silver Lake crew for the 2025-2026 school year.
First, the school is welcoming Mr. Shaun Fisher. Mr. Fisher is going to be the JAG teacher starting this year. JAG’s (Jobs for America’s Graduates) mission is to keep young people in school through graduation and provide work-based learning experiences that will lead to career advancement opportunities or to join a post-secondary institution that leads to a rewarding career. Students in JAG can work while at school, participate in education at local businesses, hear guest speakers to help them understand the working world, and support each other in the program and the building. Mr. Fisher and his wife Kristi have been married for over 11 years and have three kids: Kadyn, who is eight, Lincoln, who is six, and Brooks, who just turned three. Along with their three children, they also have two Labrador retrievers, Oakley, a black lab, and Tucker, a yellow lab. Before coming to Silver Lake, Mr. Fisher was with the Jones Group and left there because he felt he was led to get into teaching education. He heard about the JAG program and felt it was a great opportunity to get into the education field. Mr. Fisher also served as the assistant coach for the high school boys basketball team for one year, and this will be his third year as head coach. Along with coaching basketball for the school, he also served on the board of education for just over four years. Mr. Fisher loves spending time with his family, and they keep themselves pretty busy with baseball/softball. If he gets the time, he likes to go golfing. He also enjoys hunting and fishing but hasn’t had the time to do it lately. He is a big Husker fan and believes this year will be our year (like every year).
Next, the school is happy to welcome Mrs. Rebecca Jones. Mrs. Jones will be the 7th-12th grade agricultural education teacher and co-advisor for FFA. She has one daughter named Harper and a dog named Winston. She has incredible parents and two siblings, along with many extended family members. Before coming to Silver Lake, Mrs. Jones taught 7th-12th grade agriculture at Axtell, and she also taught 7th-12th grade math at Perkins County School. She has substitute taught, served as a human resource manager, and also been a farm management assistant throughout the past several years. Additionally, she owns cattle and is involved in her family’s cattle operation. She left both Axtell and Perkins County School due to new opportunities for her family’s professional career in other communities. Mrs. Jones’s first-ever cow was named Daisy. She studied at the University of Lincoln, and one of her favorite foods is chocolate cake.
Last but certainly not least, the third member of the new staff is Ms. Maggie Keslar. Ms. Keslar will be the new SLP (Speech Language Pathologist) at Silver Lake. This will be her first job as an SLP. She is taking over the place of Ms. Kathman and will be at the school mostly on Fridays. She graduated with her master’s degree in May. She worked as a substitute teacher at Kearney, which gave her a feel of what the classroom felt like. One thing she is most looking forward to at Silver Lake is getting to meet all the new staff and the students. If you see her in the hallway, feel free to say hi; she would love to get to know you! She is an only child, so growing up, it was only her mom, her dad, and her. She does come from a big extended family, though; she has 40 first cousins. She is a huge Husker volleyball fan, so if there’s a game on, she’s probably watching it. She is also surprisingly good at headstands and is a big Taylor Swift fan, and has even gotten the opportunity to go to one of her concerts in Indianapolis. Her favorite food is chips and salsa. In her free time, Ms. Keslar enjoys hanging out with friends and going to fitness classes at the gym.
Silver Lake is lucky to have the addition of these three staff members!