Preston Weller

Kyle Rumrey explains a federalism debate project to his Advanced Placement (AP) Government during the third period.

A new school year can bring new changes and new staff. One new staff member was Kyle Rumrey, a World History and AP Government teacher.

“I’m really passionate and excited about teaching and about teaching the subject. While at the same time I try to maintain a very calm and peaceful demeanor,” Rumrey said.“I want students to feel safe in my class, to be able to enjoy the time that we have together and what we’re learning together.” 

Rumrey has noticed a respectful atmosphere at the school.

“I feel like [students] respect the adults [and] the staff,” Rumrey said. “It’s very refreshing for me to get to go out into the halls and into the school and be around students and not feel uncomfortable. I feel very comfortable here and that’s really nice for me.”

Although this is Rumrey’s first year teaching at the school, he has been teaching students about government and politics for years.

“I think that [AP Government] quite possibly could be the most relevant class that [students] could take for their life,” Rumrey said. “Everything’s political, our culture and our media. Our political system is making everything political. Gender, sexuality, education, religion, science, climate change, the environment, all these different things are being made political, and it’s being brought into that sphere.”

As a student himself, Rumrey did not feel connected to academics, but later found an understanding for social sciences.

“I really did want to understand, but it was very abstract and confusing for me,” Rumrey said. “History and social science seemed to make a little bit of sense and so as I moved on to college and into my profession, that connection motivated me. As a teacher, that sense of not feeling connected has motivated me to help students feel seen and known, and just try to make school relevant for them.”

Darren Thomas, English teacher, is also new to the school this year. Thomas teaches English to sophomores and juniors, and also coaches boys soccer. 

“I’ve always been at schools that have very motivated and driven students,” Thomas said. “But I feel like so far in my experience in the first few weeks, the kids here just really have this passion to learn and to receive feedback. Whether it’s coaching soccer [or being] in the classroom, there’s this excitement with a lot of the students to just learn.”

Thomas has taught multiple topics relating to English, but literature is his favorite, which is the reason he became an English teacher

“Teaching different types of composition can be fun, but for me, getting into a good novel is like my favorite thing to teach,” Thomas said. “Students tend to really engage the most with literature when they see how it can relate to something that they have in their everyday life. When we talk about philosophy and psychology they are able to relate it to their own lives, their own experiences, then [it] becomes a little bit more meaningful.”