PHS Teacher Talk
The Inside Scoop with the Teachers
Teacher Talk with Alex Thramer
By Natalie Kosch
Mr. Alex Thramer started his teaching career at Pierce High this year. He teaches accounting, personal finance, intro to business, and the real world seminar. Thramer also helps coach boys basketball, junior high football, and junior high track; he has volunteered to help with high school track. Also, Thramer is newly engaged. His inspiration to be a teacher is from the teachers and coaches he had in high school.
In the life of a teacher there are many embarrassing moments and even though he is in his first year of teaching, Thramer recalls his being when he had a marker explode on his shirt while teaching a class. As a teacher there are also times when students try to get away with things in class, he recalls his most interesting experience with a student cheating on their homework when a student logged into another student's school account and stole a presentation.
He comments, “What I love about Pierce High is its good community and good administration and that it has good hard working students.”
Teachers also get to hear all the slang terms being around students, Thramer comments, “My least favorite slang term above all that students use is strat.” Teachers also become up to date with all the trends being around students and he says that the trend that baffles him the most is when students wear shorts to school during the winter.
If he was to win the lottery, Thramer would most likely buy a new car and a new house. He would also take a month long vacation. Thramer’s dream vacation would be somewhere tropical with nice beaches, and he would have his friends and family with him.
One of Thramer’s students, Addison Croghan, comments, “Mr. Thramer’s class is pretty chill, and he is a really good teacher and easy to talk to.”
Teacher Talk with Mr. Sindt
By Sierra Sonnenfelt
Mr. Michael Sindt has been teaching at Pierce High for over 22 years, where he teaches both junior high and senior high band. Throughout his many years of teaching, he has learned things from not only his students but overcome many experiences and challenges.
Sindt’s most embarrassing teacher moments include tripping on his music podium, usually while either directing or speaking to a full band room.
His inspiration to become a teacher came from the military, and all the music teachers he had growing up. He liked the way music brought people much closer together. All the directors inspired him to continue the traditions.
One thing people may not know about Sindt is that not only is he in the band room, but he is also up in the sky flying, as Sindt has his pilot’s license.
Sindt’s most creative punishments include cymbal laps and push-ups. Cymbal laps are when a student must run the track clapping cymbals together. Better hit those notes right, or the cymbals are coming.
He likes to enjoy his summer break by giving music lessons or hanging out with his family. He also likes to go to concerts when the opportunity is presented to him. Sindt can also be seen riding around on his motorcycle.
Sindt says his favorite thing about PHS is the community. “Everyone serves the same purpose. Coaches always work together to make things happen. We are all so supportive of everything.”
If Sindt won the lottery, he would travel the world, pay for his kid's college expenses, and come back to expand the school gym, the stage, and of course the band room.
A trend that baffles Sindt is Snapchat. “I’ve never understood the act of just taking pictures of your friends. If I were to do that, people would think I’m a little strange.”
Keeping up with the trends his favorite slang term to say is “neato.” His least favorite slang term is when students say “yeh” instead of yes or yeah.
One of the seniors, Kaley Johnson, says her favorite thing about Sindt is, “He treats all his students like family, never leaving anyone out. It’s one of his best qualities.”
Teacher Talk with Mr. Cerny
By Sierra Sonnenfelt
Mr. Dylan Cerny has been teaching at PHS for four years. Throughout his years he has experienced the highs and lows of all that PHS has to offer. He teaches computer aided drafting (CAD), construction, intro to industrial technology, small engines, and real world seminar. He also is the head of the student council and helps out with concessions. Through the many years of teaching Cerny has learned several things. He says his most embarrassing teacher moment was when he fell off a ladder. He was working on the top of the storage shed at the end of the football practice field, while no one was holding onto the ladder.
Cerny says his inspiration for becoming a teacher is simply because he enjoys teaching. He likes to explain how things work to people and provide explanations as to how things function.
A typical Saturday night for Cerny includes working on a side project, whether it be a car or woodworking or hanging out with his family.
Cerny is not only creative inside the shop, but he is also very creative with his punishments. He says that his most creative punishment would be making a student clean out the pit by hand. That is one adventure that is not too thrilling.
His dream vacation is on the more simple side. He says he would like to take a car trip up to Rapid City, South Dakota, and spend time just hanging out there. Otherwise, he says he would not mind going up Myrtle Beach again, he just cannot forget to pack his sunscreen.
Cerny says his favorite thing about Pierce High is the head of it all, Mr. Brahmer. He says that Brahmer cares so much about his whole staff and the student body and inspires him to be a better teacher every day.
If Cerny won the lottery he says he would start traveling around the world more in order to spend more time with his family and make great memories.
Trends that baffle Cerny include people who dress up as literal animals, also known as furries. He also says that his favorite slang term is, “I mean I guess,” or, “It’ll buff.”
Nikolas Harvey says his favorite thing about Cerny is, “He’s a very understanding adult. Mr. Cerny is easy to work with and very relatable.”
Teacher Talk with Grant Doerr
By Natalie Kosch
Mr. Grant Doerr has been teaching at Pierce High for 10 years. He has been coaching football for 10 years and has previously coached golf for two years and junior high basketball for three years.
Doerr comments, “I like Pierce High for its blue collared hard working community.”
Doerr grew up in Creighton and has two siblings, one sister and one brother. In the summer Doerr spends time with his three kids, two girls and a boy. He also helps his brother and father on the farm during the summer.
One of his hidden talents is playing cards. Doerr’s dream vacation would be to spend a week in Hawaii, and he would build a new home and spend time at it if he were to win the lottery.
Doerr’s inspiration to be a teacher was his high school teachers and his love for math. Throughout his career as a teacher there have been some awkward moments and Doerr recalls one time when he gave out the wrong test. There are also moments in a teaching career where students try to cheat in class and Doerr’s most interesting way he has caught a student cheating was on a test when the individual had all the answers but to another test, so the student got all the answers wrong.
Mr. Jason Freudenburg, who teaches next door to Doerr comments, “It’s always good having a reliable neighbor that can help me out when I need it.”
Mrs. Stelling Tells It All
By Autumn Lambrecht
Sometimes students forget that teachers are not really that much different from students.
Her inspiration to be a high school teacher was her senior year math teacher and physics teacher.
Brielle Unseld comments, “I like how she actually cares if you don’t understand problems, and will take time to teach you instead of just moving onto something else.”
The most embarrassing teaching moment for Stelling was when she butchered the pronunciation of one of her student’s last names the very first day of her teaching career, and the rest of class just laughed at her.
When asked about her worst experience with catching a student cheat she replied with, “Knowing the student cheated and having to defend how I knew he cheated because he kept lying to me. After providing the incriminating evidence several times, he finally confessed.”
One of Stelling’s hidden talents is that she can wiggle her ears.
A typical Saturday night for Stelling is watching a movie on Netflix or Amazon Prime with her husband. If she could pick any vacation it would be somewhere near the ocean or the mountains.
She loves that Pierce high has so much desire and work ethic to succeed in academics, sports, or activities. A trend that baffles her is jeans with big rips near the knees. Her favorite slang word is GOAT and least favorite is dope. If she won the lottery, Stelling would pay off debt, take her family on a nice vacation, and donate to charities that are very meaningful to her.
Co-worker Treva Dostal comments about working with Stelling by saying, “Mrs. Stelling carries out her career with professionalism and the highest regard for students and she has a high regard for her profession and the student she teaches and makes a life-long impact on students.”
Let’s Get to Know Mrs. Crys Bauermeister
By Addison Sporleder
Crys Bauermeister is a very familiar face in the building, as she teaches 7th grade STEAM class and the librarian. Bauermeister is also the cheer sponsor and is in charge of journalism and the quiz bowl teams.
Originally, she wanted to pursue a career in broadcasting. However, her professor sent a few students to Bauermeister for her to proofread their papers. Following that, she got her degree in 7-12 education with endorsements in English and theater.
Bauermeister loves Pierce High because the school has high standards, and the school has a high success rate of achieving those standards. She also commented, “My husband and I chose to live in Pierce and raise our family because we believe it is a solid foundation of success.” She believes she can achieve anything that she sets her mind to.
During the school hours, Bauermeister’s most creative punishment she gives students is tasks she does not like to do, such as cleaning, menial tasks, scraping gum, and redoing bulletin boards. However, she considers her most embarrassing moment when she was judging a speech competition at Boone Central while she had the stomach bug, and she had to throw up during a round.
Outside of school, Bauermeister likes to spend her summers gardening, going to her children’s activities, and attending minor and major league baseball games. Her dream vacation would include someone else paying for it, all inclusive, secluded, warm, and has many sites to see.
Back to reality, Bauermeister spends her typical Saturday nights with someone cooking dinner, and chilling at home either reading, playing a game on her phone, or watching TV.
Something that baffles her is how people don't actually call one another, rather send pictures of themselves and send chats. Her least favorite slang term she hears is “sus,” which means suspicious.
