As school has resumed, students are reintroduced to many things familiar. The building is the same, the schedule feels familiar, sporting events are again under way for both athletes and superfans. The people, however, are always new. In addition to a new freshman class, the high school staff experienced some changes. It’s our pleasure to introduce the high school’s new faces.
Dean Lazowski:
Dean Lazowski is a high school counselor and new to Northview. The job opened up when former counselor Michael Kapuska retired. Being familiar with the district already, Lazowski was enthusiastic upon invitation to apply.
“There are very few schools that I would’ve considered having left where I was,” Lazowski said. “I knew there was a lot of great people [at the district], and I thought it would be a good fit.”
Lazowski has been a counselor for many years. He worked for Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services for a year in addition to being a high school counselor for seventeen years at Kenowa Hills. However, he didn’t start off in professional life as a counselor. He is a former social studies teacher and a coach for basketball, football, golf and baseball, but he wanted a change.
“I wanted to do something more specific to an individual’s needs, plans and goals,” Lazowski said.
In spite of not having worked with a school in a year he has stayed involved through his two kids and their athletic and academic lives. But he is excited to get back into it and is looking forward to establishing new relationships with students.
“[I want to] do the best I can every day and encourage everyone around me to live as much as they can in the moment, with an eye on the future,” Lazowski said.
Nathan Kukla
Nathan Kukla is a new member of the art department. He is teaching a variety of classes, including graphic art, fashion design, digital photography and advanced placement (AP) art. Before he received the job here, he was working at West Ottawa High School, which happens to be where he met former art teacher Tricia Erickson.
Erickson and Kukla have known each other for many years working together through West Ottawa High School, as well as the Michigan Art Education Association. Erickson was the previous art teacher at the highschool however she is now pursuing a teaching job at coopersville her alma mater. So, when her job opened up she made sure to tell Kukla.
“I’ve known all the teachers here and I’ve known it’s a great program,” Kukla said. “When it became available, I jumped at it.”
Kukla enjoys many different hobbies, including listening to music, playing old school video games, learning new things and of course art, which has always been a very important part of his life. However, he realized that teaching and sharing his passion with his students is equally important to him.
“As much as I love making art, what I really love is getting other people excited about making art,” Kukla said.
Kukla’s hard work and passion for teaching doesn’t go unrecognized he has recently won an award for Michigan secondary art teacher of the year. He is eager to see how his teaching skills can benefit students and the district.
“One of my goals is to honor the program and the things that Erickson built here with Lockwood,” Kukla said. “To help it thrive, to build and expand on what’s already been going on here.”
Rowan O’dougherty:
Rowan O’dougherty is a new American Sign Language (ASL) teacher this year. He’s been teaching ASL for 15 years at a college level and was working at Grand Rapids Community College before receiving the job at Northview.
The district has been looking for an ASL teacher for some time and O’dougherty has all the right qualifications. He was interested in working at the highschool for many different reasons.
“I know that Northview district has a good DHH [Deaf and Hard of Hearing] program and has interpreters available,” O’dougherty said. “I like the people here, everyone’s really nice and friendly, they’re really good to work with.”
O’dougherty has a strong passion for teaching ASL. Being deaf himself, he uses ASL for his everyday communications and he also believes ASL has a positive influence on students’ lives.
“I think that teaching many people ASL is important, because the more people [that] are aware of ASL the more equitable it becomes for everyone,” O’dougherty said.
Teaching isn’t the only thing O’dougherty is passionate about, he also enjoys gardening, traveling and spending time on the open water.
“I’m a third generation sailor for my family, my grandfather was a sailor, then my father and now me,” O’dougherty said. “It was them who gave me my first sailboat when I was eight and I started racing,”
O’dougherty is excited for the school year and to see what he can bring to the district.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing my hearing students become more socialized with the other deaf students at Northview,” O’dougherty said. “[I am also looking forward to] maybe setting up and improving for our second year of PAH.”
Cindy Reinink
Students may have seen an unfamiliar face in the halls or after school in the athletic wing. This would be our new campus supervisor Cindy Reinink. Reinink may be unknown to students, however she isn’t entirely new to the district and is enthusiastic about being back.
“I worked here for 11 years before, my three daughters went to school here and I love the school system,” Reinink said.
When Reinink was working at Northview in previous years, she was a special education paraprofessional. However, this year she has a different role.
“I supervise the hallway but when kids leave from 2:30 to 6:00 I supervise the athletic wing and [make sure] that kids are not just there to goof around and are going practice,” said Reinink.
Other than working as a special education paraprofessional and hall monitor, Reinink has also worked as a behavior interventionist. She started in all of these jobs for a similar reason.
“I like building relationships with kids, getting to know them and helping them out,” Reinink said.
Reinink has many goals for her future years at the district. Other than building relationships with students, she’s interested in the lesser known facets of the school.
“I [want] to look at the different programs Northview has,” Reinink said. “I like [Northviews] alternatives and how they do online school and then the environmental school that they’re doing.”
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