By Matthew Kollbaum
This week’s Staff Spotlight is Mrs. Jessica Crist. She teaches 9th grade General Science and two upper-level electives: Chemistry and Physics. She works at the Marcus High School. This will be her 6th year of teaching. The first four years she taught 5th and 6th grade science at the middle school the last two have been at the High School. She grew up in Le Mars and continued her education at USD in Vermillion with several different teaching majors, switching between Music Ed., Spanish Ed., and 7-12 Biology Ed. She finished school at Lancaster Bible College in Pennsylvania with a degree in Middle Level Science and Language Arts. The reason she wanted to be a teacher is because she loves that teaching allows you to interact with students and make a difference. What she likes best about teaching is talking with students. She also likes teaching science, but the students are definitely the best part.
Something that she wished someone had told her in high school is “Do your best to be in the moment. Being present allows you to enjoy what you are doing, even if the activity isn’t very enjoyable.” Advice for her students is “Trust yourself. Trust God. Relax. Enjoy what you are doing; you don’t have to be perfect.”