Lafayette welcomes 10 new staff members for 2024-2025 school year
Fluchel is originally from St. Louis and attended Lindbergh High School. Graduating from Missouri State University in 2023, this will be Fluchel’s first year teaching.
One of Fluchel’s biggest hobbies is watching movies and shows. His favorite movies are the Insidious series.
Fluchel said he likes the staff members at LHS, especially the Language Arts Department.
“They’ve been very welcoming and very helpful,” he said.
Hoping he can make his students feel comfortable, Fluchel wants his classroom to be seen as a safe space.
“I want to be safe and supportive for all of the students that come in here [and] to feel like they belong in this classroom, like they’re a part of the community,” Fluchel said.
Now kicking off her second year teaching, Hill is a Class of 2022 graduate from UMSL who previously taught at Dubray Middle School and at a school in Kentucky.
“I’m happy to be in Lafayette so I can teach the older kids now,” Hill said.
In her free time, Hill said she loves painting, listening to music and reading. Hill’s a huge Taylor Swift fan and one of her favorite memories was attending the Eras Tour.
Hill said she values good communication in her class and wants to make her classroom a safe place for students to learn.
“I’m really big about making a safe space for students to explore the things they want to. In language arts, there’s a lot of reading and a lot of writing and I think there’s a lot of room for people to explore themselves. They can’t do that unless they feel safe and in a supportive environment,” Hill said.
Klein grew up in St. Louis and lived there her whole life. She attended Parkway South high school and graduated from Maryville University in 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in education.
“I’m fresh out of college so this will be my first year [teaching],” she said.
Some of Klein’s hobbies include hiking, spending time with family and reading. Some of her favorite books are the Percy Jackson series and The Way of Kings series.
“I really like fantasy books,” she said.
Klein encourages her students to collaborate with one another.
“I like having the dynamic of everybody helping everybody. Even though I’m the one who stands up there in lectures, I teach my students to help each other learn,” Klein said.
Kortuem is originally from Minnesota. Before moving to Missouri, he lived in Colorado and Florida. Having graduated from Minnesota State Universiy in 2004, this will be his fourth year teaching and twentieth year being a coach.
As a coach, he trained swimmers and athletes in triathlon.
As a lifelong swimmer and triathlete, Kortuem said he enjoys outdoor activities such as paddle boarding, mountain biking and trail running.
He hopes to bring a positive atmosphere into his classroom.
“[I want a] classroom that allows students to use creative and imaginative learning processes to encourage critical thinking skills,” Kortuem said.
McDaniel grew up in Cape Dorado, Missouri and taught in Missouri for six years before moving to Mississippi. There, he taught at Olive Branch High School in the Desoto County School District. He started as a physical education teacher, then moved on to teach social studies. This year will be his fourteenth year teaching.
“I wanted to be in a bigger school district. So I saw the opening, came up and here I am,” he said.
As fan of football and supporter of the Kansas City Chiefs, McDaniel is also the Assistant Coach of the LHS freshman football team this year.
Other than being a sports fan, McDaniel said he loves to travel. Some of his dream destinations are Eastern Europe and the Pacific Northwest.
McDaniel said he feels supported at Lafayette.
“The staff members are really great. I have a lot of really good resources. My department especially has been super helpful, I’ve met a lot of really friendly people,” he said. “What excites me the most is what they say about students. They say that all of our students are really hard working and have goals in mind.”
Nnakwe grew up in Mississippi and moved to Missouri eight years ago. This year marks her eighteenth year teaching.
Some of her hobbies include traveling, reading and hiking as well as spending time with family and friends.
Nnakwe said everyone at LHS so far has been very welcoming and encouraging.
“I can already tell the culture of this place is pretty great,” she said.
Most importantly, Nnakwe said she wants her classroom to feel like home.
“I want my classroom culture to be our family for this block or period. I want it to be a safe place for students to share their ideas and a place where we can all be transparent and learn together,” Nnakwe said.
Originally from Columbia, Missouri, Penberthy has been a counselor for 10 years now. She graduated from Steven’s College after studying psychology and counseling. Before joining the Rockwood School District, Penberthy worked at Fulton Public Schools.
Some of her hobbies include reading, biking and hiking.
So far, Penberthy has been working on getting to know everyone.
“Lots of learning new names, faces and systems, everyone has been so welcoming and helpful,” she said.
Rawson grew up and lived most of his life in New Jersey. This will be his eighteenth year teaching. Before becoming a teacher, Rawson was a sports journalist for the New Jersey Herald.
“I spent 10 years working for a garden center. While I was doing that, I happened to see that the local newspaper that I had grown up with was looking for people to help them cover high school football games on the weekends. I answered the ad and it snowballed from there,” Rawson said.
Rawson has worked as a sports reporter for 14 years before he started teaching at high schools in New Jersey and South Carolina. Having only moved to Missouri this year, he believes that St. Louis has a lot to offer for journalism students and teachers.
“This is the promised land for journalism. I think a lot of journalists and teachers look at Missouri and, especially the St. Louis area, as being the place to be,” he said.
Other than journalism, Rawson said he enjoys the outdoors and is a huge baseball fan. He has visited 24 baseball parks and hopes to visit more in the future.
In the classroom, Rawson said he wants to be transparent with his students.
“I’m OK with letting [students] into my life and letting them know what’s going on with me, kind of pulling back the curtain,” he said. “I think the more transparent we are with each other the more it fosters meaningful relationships.”
Teves grew up in Connecticut and after graduating highschool, joined the U.S Air Force. She lived in Japan, where she was stationed, for 3 years. She later graduated from Kennesaw State University with a Bachelor of Science in Human Services in 2007.
One of Teves favorite hobbies is going to air shows.
“When the Blue Angles come, they have all kinds of air shows and displays of airplanes,” she said.
Before joining Lafayette, Teves was a social worker and career counselor before homeschooling her kids full-time.
“Both of them are now Lancers,” Teves said.
Growing up in Missouri, Wipke is a former Lafayette graduate. She attended Lindenwood University where she played soccer. This will be her second year teaching. Before moving to Lafayette, Wipke taught physical education in the Lindbergh School District.
“I’m so excited to work here. I loved being here as a student,” she said.
Wipke said she wants her students to feel comfortable coming into class.
“I want them to know that they’re cared about and that they’re important and that I value them,” she said. “I think it’s gonna be an awesome year.”
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![For the Japanese Festival Opening Ceremony, performers play Taiko drums. The event is hosted in the Botanical Gardens due to having one of the largest Japanese gardens in the United States. "The garden [has] cherry blossoms, Japanese palm trees, a beautiful lake and a bonsai, very Japanese style. There’s a lot of Japanese related events because of that," Webster University instructor Hitomi Salini said.
Photo Courtesy Of Nathan Kwarta](https://lancerfeed.press/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Taiko_Opening_Ceremony_Nathan-Kwarta_230902_031-1200x800.jpg)
