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News-Sun photo by TREY CHRISTY First year teachers-to-be Tennille Dengerud (left) and Kimberly Klostermann listen intently to a presentation on classroom management during the district's New Teacher Orientation Friday afternoon in Hill-Gustat Middle School.

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published: Sunday, August 10, 2008

Fewer teachers at orientation

By TREY CHRISTY

trey.christy@newssun.com

SEBRING - The common room at Hill-Gustat Middle School was significantly larger than it normally is during Friday's new teacher orientation.

The room hasn't undergone construction, but with less than half of the normal participants it appeared a lot larger.

In years past, the district had vendors set up all along the walls to help teachers new to the area acquaint themselves with Highlands County, from real estate agents to banks.

This year's more intimate setting played host to 39 teachers either new to the area or to the profession. For the past two years, the orientation played host to up to 110 new teachers. The shrinking number reflects fewer teaching positions open or created due to budget cuts.

Two of the county's greenest teachers were raised on the very soil they now plan to keep fertile to develop young minds.

Tennille Dengerud and Kimberly Klostermann will start at Avon Elementary when school opens later this month, even though they have already begun setting up their rooms and familiarizing themselves with their fellow teachers.

"The more I meet with the team, the less nervous I am," Klostermann admitted.

Klostermann is an Avon Park native and is happy to stay in her hometown.

She lived in Avon Park while commuting to Warner Southern College to get her degree in elementary education.

"All of my family's here," she said. "We have a close family, so it's good to stay here."

While the two new educators will be at the same school, Klostermann will help shape fifth-grade minds, while Dengerud will focus on much younger ones -- she'll be teaching first grade.

"I like the little ones," she said.

Dengerud has already put in her share of time without seeing a single child, as most teachers do, setting up their room for another year of learning.

"It's quiet," she said. "You get to work in peace."

The peace will soon be disturbed as more than 700 students fill the hallways of Avon Elementary.

That won't be anything new for the pair.

"We've both subbed and interned at the school we're at," Dengerud said.

That was a good thing, she said, because while she just graduated from the University of South Florida program offered through South Florida Community College, that didn't guarantee her a job.

"(They see) you're responsible," she said about working side by side with her principal and other administrators. "They've seen us firsthand. They know your reputation."

Dengerud grew up in Sebring and attended elementary, middle and high school in Highlands County.

While the local pool was strong, Sean Rego, recruitment and training specialist for the district, pulled in teachers and graduates from outside the state as well to help fill critical positions.

"What little travel we did still paid off," he said.