Teacher Feature
It’s not very often that you find a teacher leaving during the second semester, but sometimes the unexpected does happen. Our previously featured and dearly loved Mrs. Allen moved on from her career at Morgan, and was replaced by a teacher who has subbed many times here at the middle/high school level.
Hilary Jordan has been teaching since 2012. Although she is a new teacher, she has already experienced something that very few have had the chance to do. After earning her English degree, Miss Jordan accepted a position at ELIC to teach ESL (English as a Second Language) in China!
After teaching in China, she came back to Valpo to teach at Victory Christian Academy for two years. She has done various subbing positions since then and is now teaching at Morgan.
Miss Jordan didn’t originally want to teach. “When I was very little, I wanted to be a vet. That was until I saw my first surgery at the age of 14 and realized blood was not for me. In college, everyone kept asking me what I was going to do with my English degree and I swore I would never teach.”
Her mom showed her an assessment that suggested careers based on intrinsic motivation, and it turns out that teaching English was in her top 5. By then Miss Jordan knew she was going to teach. She has now taught ESL, middle school Bible classes, keyboarding, and 7-11 English.
Aside from now planning multiple lessons for the week, she is also earning her Master’s degree in secondary English education.
“After I earn my degree, I plan on applying to work in East Porter county school system. I seriously love this school system. I would like though, in the future, to go back out and teach abroad again. But that will most likely not be for many years.”
Even though she’s had an intense transition into teaching, Miss Jordan has already done a fantastic job. She makes class fun and really immerses herself in any activities that the class has. Her students know that she cares and is always there to lend a hand or make your life easier.
“I get up every morning happy to go to work. I never dread Sunday nights because I know I get to see my students in a few hours and we get to learn together.”
Student Feature
If you’ve been reading the papers lately, I’m sure you’ve seen the name Kylee Maxwell pop up a few times. She is a lifelong Morgan student who works harder than some could even imagine. Kylee is the only member and partial founder of Morgan’s gymnastic team.
Freshman year she and her mother met with Mr. George, who was the AD at the time, and planned to start the team. Kylee has since then competed through Hobart High School. She plans her own local meets and has competed at sectionals as well. This year she was second all around and was undefeated at vault. Apart from Morgan’s team, Kylee has been involved with gym since she was “out of diapers.” She has been training with Lisa’s gymnastics since she was a kid. She has meets through Lisa’s as well, and will be competing in nationals this May.
After this year, Kylee is planning on ending her career as a gymnast to study Exercise Science and Kinesiology at Purdue West Lafayette. Even though she’s feeling ready for a change, Kylee acknowledges the impact gym has had on her.
“It has definitely taught me how to be independent and responsible. It basically made me who I am today. I know I tell everyone that I don’t want to do gym anymore but I’m definitely thankful for it,” said Kylee.
During breaks and summer, however, Kylee is hoping to help coach at Lisa’s. If gymnastics alone wasn’t enough, Kylee has been doing track and volleyball since freshman year. She also joined Spanish club sophomore year, and has done Honor Society both Junior and Senior year. This year she joined HOSA vocational.
Kylee is a person who devotes herself completely to her work. Whether it’s sports or studies, she gives it her all and earns every title and grade completely.
“An Evening of One-Acts”
April 1st and 2nd the high school drama club put on a very unique play for the community. Rather than a traditional play, the students performed in emotional one-acts with improv during scene changes.
Unlike other seasons, this cast only had 7 practices before their big show. Drama President, Sarah Randall, said, “everyone worked really hard for our short amount of time. We really bonded over that.”
Improv was a new experience for Morgan’s drama department.
Junior, Samantha Riley, summed up what most of the cast was feeling. “I was really excited but also nervous because I like improv, but I was worried because I know it’s really hard, especially as an underclassmen.”
There was also worry about timing with scene changes and the improv skits. The question of whether one or the other would take too long floated around a lot, but it turned out really well.
Despite the challenge of little practice, and worry over new performance style, the cast found themselves really proud with the end result. Sarah felt that doing one-acts was interesting, because it helped keep the audience entertained even more. Along with that, improv helped create interaction that broke down the fourth wall.
“I think it would be fun for the high school cast to do again,” says Sarah.
As usual, the drama club put on a wonderfully creative show that reminds us why performance arts have been cherished for years.
Seniors Take D.C.
On the evening of March 16th, a group of seniors packed their bags for the Senior Trip and loaded onto a bus for a 10-hour drive to Washington, D.C. Early Thursday morning, the group dropped off their bags and headed out to explore our nation’s capital. During their three-day visit, the seniors managed to see the Washington monument, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, multiple war memorials, the Tomb of Lost Soldiers, the Smithsonian, and Mount Vernon. In their free time, many hung out at the hotel, swam, visited various restaurants of their choosing, and reminisced about years past. By the end of the trip, most of the seniors would say that they were closer than when they left Morgan the Wednesday night.