Alivia Smith and Katie Reed

Get to know who our sixteen new teachers are, here at Fossil Ridge High School and a few things you might not have known about them.

Alexis Yeager is a teacher who was raised in Boulder and attended Monarch High School. Yeager got her degree from CSU last May. Being a teacher was a career she wanted for herself because of one moment in college when she was studying to become a dietitian. “I had a moment where I was teaching someone about dietetics and I did not want to be teaching dietetics but I still wanted to be teaching, and I loved to read so I thought I should be teaching that,” she said. Her first impression of Fossil is that the administration is very supportive of things she does, and she also thinks that the kids are very motivated. “I am looking forward to seeing the school culture and the different events and activities,” she said. Yeager enjoys TV shows, admitting that she has watched the entire show of Breaking Bad four times in a row and is on her fifth. Yeager is now an English teacher here at Fossil.

Lisa Plank is a new Social Studies teacher at Fossil who came most recently from Ouray High School. Plank received her bachelors degree at CSU and her masters degree at Lewis and Clark College. One unique fact about Plank is that she was born and raised in Saudi Arabia. When talking about why she wanted to teach, Plank said, “I love working with young people because they’re energetic, enthusiastic and generally fun to be around.” Plank’s first impression of our school that everyone is so positive and dedicated.

Another new member of the Sabercat staff is a Tech Ed teacher, Vern Rhead. He grew up in Utah and has been in Colorado for eighteen years. Rhead loves working for students. “I’ve wanted to teach my whole life,” he said. He has several degrees, he earned his teaching certificate from University of Northern California, a masters in business from Brigham Young University, and another degree from BYU in engineering. While in college, Rhead played rugby. Rhead’s first thought when he walked into Fossil was that it was  a fantastic school and he liked how everyone here models excellence.

Another new English teacher this year is Britony Orwick. She lived in Ohio and Tennessee before moving to Colorado. In college, Orwick decided that she wanted to teach. She said, “I decided to teach because I had an amazing English professor and I wanted to inspire students.” She hopes to meet more students at Fossil and perform with the teacher formed band Staff Infection. Orwick earned her degree from UNC. Something different that Orwick can do are hip-hop moves.