Teacher Talk: Abby Clark

by Rachel Ranfeld

Abby Clark brought her fun and creative personality to MHS in the fall of 2010. Since she was a senior in high school, she knew she wanted to be a teacher. She loved to learn, and she believed that school was the best place for that.

Clark enjoys getting to know all her students, creating interesting ways for them to learn and helping them shape their futures. She enjoys the students the most because “we have some very bright students with a lot of potential.”

Each semester, her classes are slightly different as she continuously discovers and shares new ideas with her students.

She graduated from Newton High School in Newton, Iowa in 2006, where she participated in swimming, golf, Speech improvisation, Big Brothers Big Sisters (pairing up with a younger student in need), marching band and the international club (a club that explores foreign languages).

She then advanced to Wartburg College to major in elementary education and student taught in second and fifth grades in Waverly, Iowa. At Wartburg College, she participated in Best Buddies (partnering with an adult with a disability), Wartburg Association of Student Educators, Adopt-A-Grandparent and Empty Bowls (a program she introduced to MHS last spring). In addition, she tutored other students and was a family’s nanny for four years. 

During her last semester there in 2010, she found MHS’s job listing online. Since it was close to her family, she didn’t hesitate in applying for the job.

While adapting into MHS’s atmosphere, she has brought new experiences to share with her students. First of all, she made a SPRINT class for the junior high and high school students to take for credit. 

Last spring, she orchestrated the Empty Bowls event where students glazed bowls to be sold for donations. The donation money was then given to the Montezuma Food Pantry. Clark plans to hold this event again this spring, and she predicts that the donation money will go another hunger organization. 

Also last spring, she took some of her junior and sophomore students on a visit to Wartburg College. 

Last fall, she had the entire student body participate in the Start Somewhere Walk with help from her SPRINT class students. 

In her free time, Clark likes to make beaded jewelry and hand out her masterpieces as gifts to her friends. She also loves to spend time with her family, visit her college friends, instruct Zumba fitness, travel, read interesting books and watch movies. 

One of the movies she likes watching is “When Harry Met Sally.” “It’s the ultimate romantic comedy,” Clark responded when asked why this was her favorite. Her students, however, would guess her favorite film is “2001: A Space Odyssey” since she talks to them about it all the time.