Mrs. Matko: expert in Spanish and student support

Mrs. Matko is an experienced Spanish teacher at the IJHS. Many students have had her over the 22 years she has been teaching, but what do students really know about her opinions and life outside of school?

Mrs. Matko’s favorite part of teaching in our school is” the amazing faculty, students, and administrators.” Mrs. Matko also explains how she teaches so efficiently. “Teachers need to provide guided practice, then independent practice with feedback supplied along the way,” she says. Although she is very involved in the IJHS, Mrs. Matko has a busy life outside of school as well. “I have four kids who are very involved in sports, so I spend a lot of time in football stadiums and basketball courts. I also enjoy exercise, travel, and reading.” She also explains why she chose to be a Spanish teacher. “I have always wanted to be a teacher ever since I was young, but when I was in college, we had an opportunity to go to Mexico, and that inspired me,” she says.

The Crimson Arrow also interviewed one of Mrs. Matko’s Spanish students to understand their views on this teacher. The student interviewed was an eighth grader named Daelyn Freyvogel. She said, “Future 8th graders should take Spanish because Mrs. Matko makes it easy to learn, and it is very interactive.” 

Mrs. Matko is an influential teacher at the IJHS who has taught for many years, along with having many hobbies outside of work. She lives an active lifestyle and enjoys spending time with her children. 

Mrs. Matko with one of her daughters 

Mrs. Gentile

Mrs. Gentile has been teaching 6th-grade math here at Indiana Area Junior High School for 33 years. She is an amazing teacher who does a great job teaching math. Her favorite lesson that she teaches is the family finance project. She chose math because she had amazing math teachers growing up and wanted to be like them. Her favorite subject that they taught was algebra. She also said that the hardest subject that she teaches in 6th-grade math is MAD, which stands for mean absolute deviation, a measure of variability that tells you how spread out a data set is. It represents the average distance between each data value and the mean (average) of the entire data set. She wanted to say that she has really enjoyed her career here and that when she retires, she will miss all her students, friends, and colleagues. Out of school, she likes to garden, draw, and play with her pets. She also enjoys learning German, baking cookies, and playing games. She reads a lot of books with her favorite author being Kristen Hannah. Her favorite books of all time, though, are Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. She said if she won the lottery, she would buy a cabin in the woods, travel to some places, open a school for younger mothers, and give money away to animal shelters.

Parlez-vous français? Mr. Denault

Most people know Mr. Denault as the teacher for French and Exploratory Language, but not many know about his life prior to teaching at the Junior High.

Lenia Ali asked, “Was Learning English hard?” and Mr. Denault said, “No, so much exposure to English, started early, so it was an easy experience for me.” Mr. Denault was born and raised in Canada, speaking mainly French and learning English through school in his early years. 

Later in his life, Denault finally put his English skills to use after travelling the world and finally ending up in America. He says, “I moved to America on December 16, 1999, at 23 years old. I met my wife on a mission trip in Puerto Rico, working on destroyed houses from a hurricane that hit prior. She went back to America, and I went to Germany. I was supposed to stay for a year, but we missed each other too much. I moved from my parents’ place in Canada to my parents’ place in America.”

Lenia asked him, “ What was your first impression of America?” He said, “When I came in 1999, I was already pretty familiar because of family vacations when I was young to Disney.”

When Mr. Denault moved to America, he went to a variety of colleges. He said, “ I went to UPG, then IUP, and finally to Saint Vincent’s.” 

When Mr. Denault was 33, he finally began his teaching career at the Indiana Senior High School. He started teaching at the high school in 2009.

Lenia asked, “Why did you decide to teach French and Expo. He said, “ It was a no-brainer since it was my first language. The schedule started to get busy, so they told me that I would take over the Exploratory language as well as French.”  

His time there ended when Mr.Denault and the French teacher in the Junior High switched places in 2014. She went to the high school, and he transferred to the junior high school. 

Mr.Denault continues to work at the Junior High, educating eighth-grade students in French and helping seventh graders explore each language the Junior High has to offer. 

Mr. Denault, taken by McKenzie Gonos and Lenia Ali

Mrs. Brautigam makes science fun

Mrs. Brautigam is a life science teacher here at the junior high school and has been working here for 26 years. The IJHS is the only school that she’s ever worked at. She has three pets, a golden retriever named Wesley, and two cats named Zoey and Nala. Outside of her home, she also takes care of a guinea pig named Pete part-time. She also loves plants and gardening. Her favorite plants to grow are tomatoes and basil, and her favorite flower is the poppy. 

Some of Mrs. Brautigam’s hobbies include yoga and spending time with her daughters, Molly (23 years old) and Ella (20 years old).

Some of the people that Mrs. Brautigam looks up to are Bill Nye the Science Guy (whom she met in person) and Jane Goodall. She attended Pitt College right here in Pennsylvania from 1992 to 1996. Mrs. Braudigum had a lot of inspiration to become a teacher from her high school biology teacher, Mr. Gallegher. She introduced her to amphibians and, more specifically, mud puppies. 

Her favorite snack is crunchy Cheez-its, and her favorite foods are avocados and pizza.

Students of Mrs. Brautigam mentioned, “She’s a really good teacher,” “If there was an award for the best teacher, she would win!” She’s a great teacher.” She’s very understanding.” Students also mentioned that she was “really nice,” “she’s always there when you need her,” and she’s very comforting.” Obviously, Mrs. Braudigum has a very deep connection with her students. 

Mrs. Brautigam, Pete the guinea pig, and her beloved students

Mrs. Weber does it all

Mrs. Weber is a very influential and busy person in and out of school. Whether it’s planning projects in art or making time for hobbies she enjoys, she always finds time to prepare and complete them. 

Mrs Weber teaches art class to all grades in the building. In 6th grade, students work on two projects: drawing a hand performing sign language with Mrs Haugh, and creating a pottery square with Mrs Weber, where they form a square base from clay, add shapes and lines, and then paint it. Each project focuses on artist communication and experimental media. In 7th grade, students make a clay pot about a holiday or a personal experience with Mrs Haugh, and create a print based on a topic chosen by the class with Mrs Weber, often exploring American or Japanese themes. These projects encourage thinking about cultures, customs, and traditions. In 8th grade, students develop their own street art by painting a design and creating a metal logo, exploring visual culture.

During homeroom and flex, Mrs Weber is in charge of students in her club, smART. Smart Studio, or smART, is for students who enjoy art and wish to learn more by experimenting beyond what is taught in a regular art classroom. Some projects they have done in the past are stained glass, silk paintings, and a ceramic project. Students are currently using their pottery wheel and making paintings. Mrs. Weber also reviewed a mural in the cafeteria, making it possible to brighten up our school, as the club is community service-oriented. They are continuing the mural this year.

When Mrs Weber is not teaching, she enjoys relaxing hobbies. Sienna Taylor asked her, “What is your favorite book?” and Mrs Weber said, “My favorite book as of right now. Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane.” Written by Lisa See, the novel tells the story of Li-yan, a woman from a remote Akha hill tribe in China, and her daughter Haley, who is adopted by an American family in California. Mrs Weber said she loves to read and garden. A pastime related to her job is creating art pieces like crafts. 

Photo of Mrs Weber outside her room. Taken by Sienna Taylor.

Mrs. Lee joins the IJHS staff

Mrs. Lee is currently teaching 6th-grade ELA at the Junior high as a long-term substitute for Mrs. Lichtenfels. Mrs. Lee has taught 3rd, 6th, and 8th. She was also a student teacher in a 1st-grade classroom. She has taught at Central Cambria and has been teaching for two and a half years. She enjoys reading, hiking, and hanging with her family and dog. The most rewarding thing she finds about teaching is “Connecting with students and seeing them get excited about ELA.” Her most memorable moment as a teacher was when she was voted as the most positive teacher by students.  The most important lesson she thinks students can learn from is “To learn to be kind and to be curious.” Her goals for her students this year are, “I want them to have fun and grow by the end of the year.” She also says,” I am very excited to be here at Indiana Junior High.” Kennedy Bell, a sixth-grader, said, “I like her, she’s nice.” Another sixth-grade student, Mila Macasaet, commented, “She’s very nice and fun.” So overall, sixth-grade students find her fun and nice, and seem to enjoy her class. I personally think she seems actually excited to teach students, takes an interest in the things they like to do, and she really seems to enjoy teaching here at Indiana.

Mrs. Lee.  Taken by Ava Wissinger. A picture of Mrs. Lee in her classroom.