Why do I teach?
I always knew I was going to teach. Even in grade school. There was a brief moment where I took a left turn and wanted to train Killer Whales, but I guess I’d still be teaching...sort of. I’m 3rd generation on my dad’s side: Oscar Lemiere, Randy Lemiere, and me. Those that know my dad (he’s the principal at Three Rivers Christian now) and knew my gramps know that I have an impossible job of filling their shoes. Talk about setting the bar high! There’s actually a lot of teachers in my family. I can count ten easily. It’s in my blood.
My family is local. Both sets of grandparents graduated from RALong, dad from MM, mom from Kelso. I’m a Butler Acres Bulldog (when I rule the world my first order of business is to bring the Bulldogs back), Coweeman Cougar, and Kelso Hilander just like her! I was one of those students who loved school. The interactions, the ideas, and the people. All of it. I loved KHS. I hated math though....surprised? Let me backtrack and say that I had great math teachers: Dot Joslin, Russ Rambo, Mark Olson, Russ again, and Mary Beth Babbit/Tack. I began to love math in college when I began....tutoring math students. Teaching made me love what I disliked - just like some of my students (I’m joking, kind of...)
I left for college all the way down in Portland, but immediately got hired by my old math teacher (Tack) at KHS and became the new Jim Perkins (retired) in 2000. Kelso is the only place i’ve worked and it’s the only place I want to work. My loyalty is deep to Kelso. I get to work, and make a difference in young people’s lives in the place where it happened for me. I love that. I love that I get to teach young people what it means to be a Hilander - because it really does mean something. I love that I get to, and have gotten to teach with the teachers that made a difference in my life: Wingate, Hymes, Hippi, Carpenters, Cooper, Clark, Wheeler, Tack, Stewart, Ames, Clawson, DeLong, Demming, Lovingfoss, Lauzis, Sargent, and on and on and on. And finally, I get to work with all of you fine people - a fine mix of my former teachers, people I went to school with, and even some of my former students! God Bless you guys.
