TheLittleHawk Iowa City High School - Iowa City, Iowa - Volume 70, Issue 5 - May 3, 2013 - www.thelittlehawk.com
New Vice Principal to Start in Fall By Cassie Wassink
Falling within a plethora of teaching transitions in the ICCSD, Scott Jespersen, current West High teacher, is transferring to City High, starting July 1, where he will take on the role of assistant principal. “I love teaching, but in the last few years I’ve had the urge to move into administration and kind of be a bigger part of the school culture,” Jespersen said of this upcoming change. Jespersen will be filling the role left vacant by current Assistant Principal Terry Coleman, who is replacing departing Athletic Director D’anne Kroemer. While Jespersen has not previously held an administrative position of this level, he has served for the past four years as the ICCSD’s curriculum coordinator for K-12 social studies. Coleman, who has served as Assistant Principal for 6 years, asserts that this experience will be a critical asset for Jespersen’s new career. “He’s very strong in curriculum, he’s been the district social studies coordinator for two years,” Coleman said. “He has a successful classroom, and he’ll be teaching professional development.”
Chelsea Russell performs a fiery baton twirling routine during the April 5, 2013 pep assembly at City High. Photos by Ellen Carman
Principal John Bacon also affirmed the fact that Jespersen’s skills in the classroom will prove essential in the future. “His references painted a picture of guy that’s not only been in the background but really a leader, someone who gets involved,” Bacon said. “They describe students gravitating towards him.” Jespersen agreed, describing an easy-going back-and-forth with his students. “I think I have a strong rapport with the students,” Jespersen said. He went on to describe his desire to express his personable nature within City High’s unique atmosphere. “There’s a lot to be said about building a positive culture at your school. I think City High has that now and I’d like to be a part of that.” Coleman and Jespersen both hope that this transition will allow them to apply their interests and abilities in new ways. Coleman, in fact, has had a long standing desire to work more closely with athletics, made apparent by his extensive coaching career. “One of those opprotunities doesn’t come very often,” Coleman said, describing his recent decision. “If I was going to shift directions,
that was the time. If City High AD [Athletic Director] position opens up, you take advantage of it.” Although Jespersen will miss the students and faculty at West High, he, too, welcomes this transition. “It’s bittersweet because I love teaching and I love students and staff and I’ve spent my last 12 years at Northwest and at West High, so it is sad in those respects,” Jespersen said. “But, again, the excitement of this opportunity is so great that it really outweighs that.” In fact, Jespersen was wearing a salmon-pink shirt on the day of his interview which he described as his “transitional red... The kids are starting to find out, so I thought I shouldn’t show up with full blown red today, but I thought this is like a coral, so I’m on my way,” he said. There is a sense of excitement surrounding these upcoming transitions, as of things settling into their natural places. Along with this excitement, a sense of readiness for these new roles to begin can be easily perceived. “I’m ready for him to roll up his sleeves and get in there with our already strong department,” Bacon said. “This is certainly Mr. Jespersen’s
The Future of TV Watching By Will Barker
first job as Assistant Principal, and with new territory comes a learning curve, but I really believe he’s a hard worker and a quick learner, he’s talented.” Jespersen, too, is ready to start. “I’m excited to be a part of the Little Hawk family,” he said. “There are a lot of great students and great staff and Mr. Bacon is very respected and has a lot of excitement and I’m drawn to that. I want to be a part of that.”
Q&A with golden girl
chelsea russell WHO IS CHELSEA RUSSELL?
Chelsea is currently attending the University of Iowa to get her Masters of Arts and Teaching for Secondary English Education. She graduated in 2011 with a Bachelors of English, Creative Writing and a minor in French. She is currently a student teacher in Ms. Field’s class at City High.
LH: How and when did you start baton twirling?
CR: I was about three years old. My mom would teach in a room in our house and they would close the doors. My dad told that I would go up to him and ask ‘what’s mom doing in there? Why can’t I go in there?’ I asked my if I could do it and she said no! She was a national champion and in Miss America and this phenomenal twirler. I was actually born pigeon toed. So I was so turned in that I would trip myself over my own feet and fall all the time. I was so uncoordinated. Finally she gave in and let one of my babysitters teach me baton twirling. When I was about four or five my mom started teaching me because she was like ‘Ok fine I’ll teach you. This seems like it’s what you want to do, you seem really motivated.’ Which seems kind of crazy because I was just this four year-old girl!
LH: What does it mean to be a national champion in baton twirling? CR: On a national scale it’s kind of like boxing where there are different organizations. I competed in both baton twirling organizations for a while. You start at a state level and have to qualify for nationals. There is usually 60 to 80 girls in your division at nationals. There are differents events too. To qualify for worlds you have to make top three in your event. I have been fortunate enough that I have qualified for four separate world championships and I have won seven world gold medals. That was over the course of quite a while. My first world championships was when I was ten in England.
Online sites such as Hulu and Netflix are changing the television industry. These sites make it possible to watch television from any device with an Internet connection, making television much more accessible to everyone. “Services like these are changing the television business dramatically,” Brian Codd, former Director of Production for On-Air Promotions for Disney, said. “But no matter how it is delivered, content is king.” Students agree that the Internet is affecting their interaction with TV. “Netflix is changing the world,” Zach Kenyon ‘16 said. “It makes the shows that I love more accessible to kids like me.” Netflix’s library, which has thousands of titles, has earned it over 33 million subscriptions. According to a recent Little Hawk student poll, sixty-five percent of City High students subscribe to Netflix or other instant services. Recently, instant services started releasing their own shows, causing broadcasters to worry that all these changes could make traditional television broadcasting irrelevant. Codd contests that, rather than replacing broadcast television, these new shows will simply alter its current mode of operation. “This is the wave of the future,” Codd said. “But broadcast television won’t go away; it will be different.” Netflix, one of the largest providers of instant programming and movie streaming, recently released their first original show, House of Cards. Since this show never appeared on television, the directors had the freedom to include as much sex, drugs, and profanity as they wanted, items typically excluded or at least censored from television shows. “Because we had no advertisers, we were allowed to write the series however we wanted,” Rick Cleveland, Cowriter and Producer of House of Cards, said. “We knew HOC was going to be kind of an ‘R-rated’ experience.” As both a parent and a former television director of production, Codd sees both sides of the issue, acknowledging the fact that the show’s racy elements may hold some allure for a young audience. “You need to talk to your kid,” Codd said “If you say ‘you can’t watch this under any circumstances’ they are going to watch it.” However, the lack of censoring isn’t the only thing House of Cards is
LH: Do you get nervous before you perform?
CR: Oh, absolutely. I was terrified for that pep assembly! It’s so crazy because its a different kind of nerves for each thing that you do. Being a student teacher here and knowing that some of my students would have to be in class with me after. I was kind of like what if I mess up? What will they think? Will they think, ‘oh this girl is so silly, shes out there twirling and did a terrible job.’ Nerves for a U of I football game is totally different than for a world championship. For each different thing you have different things to worry about and I am a total perfectionist. I actually have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder so I have to do these weird routines before I perform and I have my lucky towel that I can’t leave home without. Over the years I have learned how to wrangle that a little bit and channel it into adrenaline and energy and focus.
Interview conducted by Ellen Carman and continued on thelittlehawk.com
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