North Iowa welcomes seven new staff members

     A new school year brings with it several new faces at North Iowa Community School this fall, as seven new teachers and staff have joined the educational team at the local school.

     Teresa Dolash of Forest City is t he new high school math instructor at North Iowa. She is a native of the Marshalltown area and a graduate of East Marshall High School. She graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in December of 2014. She has previously worked at West Marshall High School and Osage High School.

     Joanne Trio of Buffalo Center is a new second grade teacher at North Iowa. She grew up in Mapleton, MN and attended college at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, SD. She has previously worked as a teacher in a child care setting during the summer, as she also served as an interim director for a child care center one summer.

     Blake Baker of Buffalo Center will teach Language Arts at the middle school and high school levels at North Iowa. He grew up in New Providence, attending the South Hardin and Eldora-New Providence community schools. He graduated cum laude from Hamline University this May, where he played football and basketball.

     Jennifer Pope of Buffalo Center is the new high school science teacher at North Iowa. She grew up on a farm outside of Manly and attended Central Springs High School. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in biology at Iowa State University, as well as her Master of Arts degree in teaching.

     Micah Peters joins North Iowa as a new fourth grade teacher and assistant volleyball coach. She is a native of Lake Mills and a graduate of Wartburg College. She previously worked as a seventh grade teacher in Denver, CO.

     McKenzie Meinders is a familiar face among the new staff members, as she is a 2011 graduate of North Iowa High School. Meinders, from Buffalo Center, will be a paraprofessional at North Iowa this fall. She says she wanted to work at the school in order to help students make an impact. Her family includes Larry and Shelly Meinders and Alyssa and Jake Wright.

     Emma Wyttenbach of Buffalo Center is a new third grade paraprofessional at the school. She is a native of New Brighton, MN and attended Mounds View High School and Century College. She was previously a literacy tutor with Minnesota Reading Corps.

     See full story in this week's Tribune.