Back row (Standing on Chairs) - Left to Right: Julia Howe, Emily Miranda, Kelsey Edwards, Austin King, Morgan Terpstra, Brody Ross, EJ Roncone Middle row (Standing) - Left to Right: Dallas DeNeve, Dana Johnson, Victoria Joy, Kate Turnley, Karsyn Stalzer, Melissa Brown, Samantha Kosman, Liz Johnson, Abbey Jackson, Joel Allman Front Row (sitting) - Left to Right: Shelby Lucas, Brooke Dickerson, Lauren Keppler, Heather Fenton, Lexi VenHuizen, Marissa Williams, Austin Simmelink
The Pella Community School District has been welcoming a new group of educators ahead of the 2024-25 academic year.
Among this year’s crop is 2023 Knoxville Nationals Queen Abbey Jackson, who begins her teaching career at Madison Elementary.
“I’m originally from Knoxville so I’ve heard about Pella and been to Pella many times, and I recently graduated from Iowa State University, and I’m so excited for my first year of teaching,” she says.
Brody Ross will be serving as the entire band department’s percussion coordinator and middle school band director. Ross says he was attracted to Pella by the rich tradition of the Marching Dutch.
“Dameon [Place] called me and was like, ‘hey, we have an opening for percussion, so we want you to take a look at it,’ and I was like, ‘I don’t know,’ he says. “But then he said ‘it was in Pella,’ so I was like ‘oh, okay, I’ll take a look.’ Being from Des Moines, I’ve always known Pella to be a great place and as soon as my wife and I got up and looked around town, we were both like, ‘yeah, we need to be here too.'”
Hear more from the new teachers in the Pella Community School District on today’s Let’s Talk Pella. Classes begin in the community this Friday.