Although you may not see Michael O’Keefe playing a video game, skate boarding after school, or Snap-Chatting, he is a self proclaimed “…big kid at heart, so it doesn’t seem like teaching is a job.”

Mr. O’Keefe is the new vice principal at Cannon Falls School. He was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin in River Falls, and earned his master’s in teaching, with an educational specialist degree at St Mary’s University. He has 16 years of experience, and has taught in Eagan and Rosemount. O’Keefe might even compare highschool to the popular television show “Survivor”, which he has applied to.

Mr. O’Keefe shows his strengths in other ways, namely in his job description: “Associate Principals spend a great deal of time working with students,” For example, he said that, “I help with lunch routines, scheduling questions, friendship issues, and any discipline discussions that come up.” Not only is he just in the high school, but the elementary school. Between running back and forth, he deals with the kids and stays awake by guzzling coffee.

Hopefully, you won’t see O’Keefe flying down the halls on a skateboard, or at his computer constructing a dungeon in Minecraft, or duck facing Mr. Hodges while he’s at a board meeting. But if he did, we big kids would join right in.

Mr. Josh Olson, a new Civics and Social Studies teacher, went to Cannon Falls as a high school student, spent two years at RCTC (Rochester Community and Technical College), and finally transferred to University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire, where he got his degree in Social Studies. He’s taught at Silver Lake, South Saint Paul, and Doberman schools. After asking him about how his students compare to current Cannon Falls students, he laughed and explained that, “The students here are very energetic, and a little distracting!” He came here to teach at here at his old high school,”It’s fun to be back,” Olson told me, “It’s the same building and rooms that were here when I was a student, so it’s cool to be back in these hallways again. His favorite memory is watching students engaged with learning. Now I know that kids can be annoying (because sometimes I can be one of them) so I ask him how he puts up with students for eight hours a day. He responded that “I can catch up on what is young and cool, if I wasn’t a teacher, I never would’ve said ‘What does the Fox Say?’ or ‘Gangnam Style’ before.”

Mr. Matt Juncker is a business teacher, he went to College in University of Wisconsin Stout, and got his business degree, then moved on to the business world and worked at TCF Bank. He ended up in Mankato to get his teachers degree. He has taught at Randolph and Pine Island and for his teaching career of eight years. I had to ask Mr. Juncker has a very good outlook on kids,” I don’t think that you put up with kids, I believe that you deal with kids, and that you help them get smarter, and I have three kids of my own, so I already love kids.” A fun fact about Mr. Juncker, is that he loves to sing.”My favorite class in High School was Choir,” He continued, “And I love singing, I sing in the shower, in the car ride here, whenever I get the chance!”

Mr. Enrique Ramos is one of our new technology directors, and he attended University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, along with Lakeland College for Business Administration. This is his first year of working in a school district. How does he put up with kids for eight hours a day? “Coffee!” he told me, “Coffee!”

Mrs. Dorothy Strickland is also a technology director, and she has gone to RCTC along with the U of M. She has worked in schools as this position for four years, and she came to Cannon Falls because of the opportunities here that she didn’t have at her previous position. Even though she doesn’t work directly with students, she told me that “The student body is polite here and curious as to who I am.” How does she put up with kids? “Caffeine.” Similar to Mr. Ramos.  One random fact about her is that her favorite movies are Top Gun, and Go Goose.

A parent or graduate coming around at the beginning of this year will have to learn some new faces but those faces definitely have a lot to say.