Mr. Retherford is known for teaching 8th-grade math at Crossroads Middle School. He has been one of Northview’s beloved teachers for a while, but what did he do in his past life? 

Mr. Retherford has been teaching for 18 years, but not all years have been at Northview. He plans to teach for 6 more years after, ending his career in June of 2028.

“Most of the time I have been teaching science. At the alternative (at-risk students) Highschool, I taught science for 14 years,” Retherford stated. “This is my 2nd year here.” He taught in

Muskegon and Grand Rapids for 2 years trying to find a permanent job. In high school, Retherford was not planning to teach. He was mainly looking at marine biology.

In his first year of high school, he decided not to go into marine biology. He found out they made little money for a lot of schooling. He then settled down on environmental engineering. Retherford found out that all of the environmental engineering programs were shutting down.

Then, he hopped into mechanical engineering. He went to a mechanical engineering college for 9 years. He then did mechanical engineering for 20 years, then decided he wanted to teach the next generation.

“I liked working at the alternative high school. A few of the students are good friends.” He explained. “I do enjoy my time here, even when I become all orderly, I love it here.”

Retherford does not want to stop teaching this year. He has a board of all his calendars of when he will retire. All the calendars consist of years. 6 more years of teaching, then he will retire. That is what he plans at least.

All in all, Mr. Retherford loves his job and plans to continue teaching.

Kaelynn Puff and Karmah Rosado interviewed Mrs. George (lunch lady)

Q: What inspired you to become a lunch lady?

A: "Actually I love kids, I used to do daycare in my home.  An opportunity came up and a friend of mine kept saying 'you gotta, you gotta' and 20 years later here I am.”

Q: Do you do you have any other careers/ other side jobs?

A: “No, I did actually used to do custodial work here at Northview but other than that no.”

Q: What jobs did you have in the past?

A: "Pizza place, hair salon, and daycare."

Q: I feel like when you’re sitting back here you don’t get recognized as much as the other staff does, yet I feel that you know everyone’s name and always have a great attitude. So how is it sitting back here just being able to watch? 

A: “Well I love you guys, so I try to remember your name as best I can because you are not just an ID number you’re a person.  I just love what I do, you have to love what you do.”

Q: Why do you love teaching social studies so much?

A: “I love our world. I love knowing where places are, geography. I love knowing things that have happened in the past. The history and economics, I think all the categories of social studies are fascinating.”

Q: Aside from your teaching career, why did you want to coach basketball?

A: “I love every sport I’ve played, and I love competition, so it feels natural to coach it.”

Q: What is the best thing about teaching?

A:” Getting to work with kids, and knowing that there are many bright futures ahead.”

Q: What was your first job?

A: “ My first was flipping burgers at Jody’s Restaurant in Rockford.”

Q: How long have you been teaching?

A: “ I have been teaching for 17 years now.”

Q: Do you have any outside jobs?

A: “ I don’t. On occasion I paint houses for people but that’s about it.”

Q: Do you have hobbies?

A: “ I love to travel, that’s probably my number 1 favorite hobby. In the summer we get our camper and go all over the country. One other hobby I love to do is woodworking.”

Q: What’s your favorite place you’ve been to?

A: “ Probably Glacier National Park in Montana.” 

Many people have had the opportunity to take Spanish with Mrs. Veen, however, not many people have had the opportunity to know more about her. 

I too have been one of those people in her class, but recently I had the opportunity to learn more about who she is outside of the classroom. From her experience living in the Dominican Republic to her time teaching, our interview highlighted someone who’s had an interesting life.

Q1: Why did you move to the Dominican Republic?

A: I moved to the Dominican Republic because when my husband and I had been dating, he moved there for a couple of years to work with an organization to help host youth group, high schoolers, and adults that wanted to come and visit the Dominican Republic and help at the orphanage and school that we worked at. So, once he figured out that he loved it, once we got married I moved there also with him. I also wanted to move to the Dominican Republic because I really wanted to live abroad. I had worked in and traveled to several other countries and I really wanted a longer term experience in another country. I really wanted to give back to another community and spend time serving others. I got to teach there too!

Q2: What’s one prominent thing you remember about there?

A: One of my jobs was working at our orphanage there, and our kids came from really hard backgrounds. But once they were in our orphanage and in loving families within there, you would never be able to tell that they had such a hard background. So, I just really liked the atmosphere of helping kids and playing with them. That was a really strong memory for me.

Q3: What are some differences in culture between the Dominican Republic and America?

A: Oh gosh, quite a few! So, the Dominican culture is called a “warm culture”. They are very loving with each other. They love to give hugs, they will greet you with a kiss on the cheek, they’ll hold your arm when they’re talking to you, which is not something that happens here necessarily. People like to have their space and stand at a distance from each other. Another difference is it’s really loud there! There’s tons of motorcycles, tons of dogs, tons of chickens. Here, like when we’d come back to visit, it was crazy quiet. Everyone drives very calmly on the highway and on the street and it’s very organized. There, it’s a lot of honking, and there’s motorcycles on both sides of you. I would say those are some of the differences but there’s lots of them.

Q4: What's the most interesting thing you ate there?

A: One really unique thing there is chicken feet. When they cook dinners, they cook chicken a lot, and they cook the feet also. You don’t consume the whole foot, but you eat any meat that’s still on it. That was the weirdest, and grossest thing I ate.

Q5: How long have you been a Spanish speaker and why did you learn it?

A: I started in 8th grade, just like my students. I took middle school Spanish, and continued through high school because I really liked it. I really liked my classmates that I was with, we had a lot of fun. I took AP Spanish and got some college credit for it, and kept taking classes in college. I started in middle school because my mom is a nurse and was going on a mission trip to the Honduras, and I got to go with her. It was awesome to see what I was learning in class. I could use a little bit with people there, and it was cool that there was this whole other world where I could talk with so many other people.

Q6: What inspired you to start teaching, and how long have you been doing so?

A: This is year 13 for me. Back to Spanish, I really liked learning and speaking Spanish, and I really liked a lot of my teachers, in high school especially. I thought that was one way I could keep using Spanish and still be with kids. I love teaching, and I’m glad I’m still in it.

Q7: What’s your favorite thing about teaching?

A: I used to teach high school, and the switch to middle school has been one of my favorite things. It feels like a really good spot where kids are still figuring out who they are and I get to see some of that, and it’s just cool to see the funny parts of kids, the jokes, and I get to know kids a lot more than when I was at the high school. I get to play more games and do sillier things than high schoolers let me do.

Q8: Would you like to live in the Dominican Republic again one day?

A: Maybe. I don’t know, we have two little kids now which we didn’t have when we lived there, before, and knowing that the education system is not good, and the healthcare system is not good, I think it would scare me to move back there with little kids knowing they’re gonna go to school and they will probably get sick.

Q9: What’s the weather like there?

A: It’s awesome! It’s called the “eternal spring” where I lived up in the mountains because it’s always between 70 and 80 degrees. It’s a really humid climate, it rains some, and the city where I lived had a ton of waterfalls so you could go there in the afternoon, and you’re always a couple hours away from the beach. That could get up to 80, 90, or 100 degrees in the summer which is really hot, but there’s always the beach which is nice.

Q10: What do you like to do in your free time?

A: We really like to travel, even in the US. We’ve gone to Wisconsin, Tennessee, and Maryland. I really like to read, I spend a lot of time doing that. Then I have two little kids, and they keep me really busy. I like to hang out with them, go outside, and go hiking. I also like to play board games with friends.

Q11: What did you think you would end up doing in high school?

A: I think I knew I was gonna be a teacher, and I knew I wanted to stick with Spanish somehow, but I didn’t know what grade I would teach. When I started at Michigan State I was gonna be an elementary teacher, and I quickly switched that to secondary. Elementary was not where I was skilled at all. 

In addition to the conclusion of our interview, Mrs. Veen is visiting one of her sites in Guatemala over spring break that is committed to helping young moms between the ages of 10-18 that have been subject to abuse and other unfortunate circumstances, and would like her Spanish classes to help out by writing letters to them or collecting items that would be encouraging. If you’re interested, contact her!

Kaelynn Puff and Karmah Rosado interviewing Mr. Bell

Q: How long have you been working at Northview?

A: “ I have been working at Northview for one year.”

Q: What inspired you to be the teacher in SRC?

A: “ That was the position that was open, I actually didn’t know about it until I was coaching, I was actually on the coaching staff.” “ One of the coaches had opened up and said, “Hey, we have this student responsibility center  director position open.” “ To me, I have always liked giving back to kids anyway, I’ve had plenty of experiences through the schooling that I’ve gone through and life experiences that I feel I could be a mentor and be a help to kids.”

Q: Do you have any hobbies outside of school?

A: “Yes, I am very heavily involved in music, from producing beats to rapping or singing. My name is BoBbdos.”

Q: Do you have any kids?

A:” I do, I have 2, Ava who is 4, and Skylar who is 2. #girldad” 

Q: What do you see yourself doing in 5 years?

A: “ In 5 years if in music things don’t pan out the way I want them to, my angle is to enter myself in law school, and then from law school if that doesn’t work, Counselor certificates and master degrees just to kind of help boat myself.”

Q: What was your favorite thing about coaching?

A: “ watching the kids go from unsure and untrusting to confident and being able to trust what we’re doing and our plan in place. The confidence you see in kids can change from day to day. It didn't make me feel the best going through the season because it was like I was telling them so much and they weren’t listening, but once we got to the banquet and end of the season to see their faces and to have the conversations with them once they understand and are like dang coach what you were saying was right. Just to have that confirmation, it reassures me that I know what I’m doing.

Q: Have you only coached football?

A: “ This year so far I’ve coached football in the fall and I will be coaching the 8th-grade girls here at Crossroads for basketball. I am actually very excited about that and looking forward to seeing our students here outside of SRC.”

Q: Is this overall your first year of teaching ever?

A: Yes, this is my first year being involved this way.”

Go listen to Mr. Bell’s song “Better N Better” - by BoBbdos. You can listen on iTunes, Spotify, and Youtube. 

Q: What are your names?

A:  Maggie: Jane and Maggie Galmish.

Q: What are some pros of being Identical twins?

A: Maggie: We can switch places sometimes and …

Jane: We share a lot of things like whatever birthday presents she gets we get and …

Maggie: We share stuff like that.

Q: What are some downsides?

A: Maggie: There's a lot of downsides 

Jane: Ummm, most of the time …

Maggie: She invades my space 

Jane: We’re together a lot 

Maggie: We have to share everything, and we have to share the same clothes.

Q: Do people treat you differently because you are identical twins?

A: Maggie: Sometimes, I mean, we're kind of used to like messing up our names like that's normal, but we are our own different persons, so they do treat us a little differently because we're twins 

Jane: We do have the same friends too.

Q: Are you happy overall since your twins?

A: Maggie and Jane: yes, 

Jane: Yeah, it's like a built-in best friend 

Maggie: Yeah.

Q: Do you feel connected in any way? 

A: Jane: I mean, yeah, we're 

Jane and Maggie: We’re sisters 

Jane: We’re twins, so yeah, and we do a lot of things together.

Maggie: We kind of have to Jane: Yeah.

Q: Do you finish each other's sentences? 

A: Maggie: No 

Jane: No, people, people think that we do that, but we do not do that 

Maggie: Well, maybe like, maybe like once in a while, but that's only because that's normal.

Q: What are some similar things you like?

A: Jane: We both like reading, and we both like…

Maggie: Basketball, piano 

Jane: We both have the same hobbies 

Maggie: Yeah, we both have glasses, but she has contacts, but it's not the same.

Q: What is the biggest difference between you?

A: Maggie: I’m older than her, ummm…

Jane: Well, we do like different things like, let's think…

Maggie: I like math, and she doesn’t 

Jane: No, I like math. I don’t know. There's probably things we could think of. Let’s see what is something I like, and you don’t like we…

Maggie: I’m more of an extrovert, and she's more of an introvert.

Q: Do you ever get annoyed when subs mix you up? (or teachers)

A: Maggie: No, it's normal. I answer to both names.

Jane: Subs or just people in general because it gets very annoying because people always call me Maggie like why can’t they call her Jane and me Jane.

Maggie: They do call me Jane.

Jane: No, they don’t, they call you Maggie, and they call me Maggie too, so…

Maggie: I guess that's another difference, it annoys her, and it doesn’t annoy me.

On November 17, 2022, Lexi Borek and Aoife Scott decided to interview Mr.Kirkman about teaching, goals, and even expressing his true feelings about the school's “religion” made for him. This interview shows his passion for teaching and his opinion on having a new kid!

Q: Who are we here with today?

A: Jeremy Kirkman.

Q: Okay. What are your opinions on the “religion” made for you by past students?

A: It’s pretty impressive. I hope it becomes a global phenomenon. It has changed over time, as I have seen it already has. Several other eighth-grade teachers have “religions” made after them, so it’s cool.

Q: How do you feel about the fact that you will have a new child in January?

A: Terrified! I will miss my current kids!

Q:What makes you the best teacher?

A: The best students!

Q: What is your primary goal as a teacher?

A: To have my picture on the wall of the PAC.

Q: What is your opinion on having to teach us every day?

A: It’s excellent. It is a routine and requires consistency. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else!

Q: Would you prefer teaching seventh grade or eighth grade?

A: They both have great things about them as well as unique challenges. I do miss teaching in high school, in all honesty.

Q: How do you feel about photos being taken of you?

A: I wonder how the shrine looks!

Spring Sports are almost over and every student participating in the sports has been working hard! One of the Spring sports that students have been participating in is Rowing. Rowing is a fun sport that Crossroads introduced for students that are interested in the Sport, no regattas are involved as it is just a fun practice for those who want to have a fun time and learn something new, or a learning experience for those interested in rowing in high school!

 Kristy Templar (Mrs. Templar) is a 7th-grade science teacher at Northview Public Schools Crossroads Middle School. Some of you may have her as your science teacher! I interviewed her about her career, and here are her answers. 

Q: What is your favorite thing about your job?

A: There are a lot of things I like about my job. I love the creativity needed to teach middle school students. I love coming to school and being with my students. I have a GREAT staff to work with, and we all stick together and help each other when needed. 

Q: What qualities would someone who has your job need? 

A: Being flexible, compassionate about the diverse needs of all learners, hard worker, creative mind, stamina, humor, fun, and enthusiastic for your content area.

Q: Do you have to go to college or have any degrees to do your job?

A: I have an associate's degree from West Shore Community College, which is a two-year degree. Then transferred to CMU to earn my Bachelor's Degree in the Teaching program with a Biology Major and a Math minor. I then went on to Western Michigan University to get my Master's Degree in Teaching in the Middle School.

You also have to update your teaching certificate every 5 years here in Michigan and prove that you have either taken college classes or have completed professional development.

When you get into the teaching program at a college or university, you will do some training. For example, you will have to get hours in classrooms, and then you have to student teach for a semester to a year before you can get your teaching certificate. 

Teachers now also have to pass a proficiency test for their specific curriculum area. I didn't have to do this because we didn't have this requirement back in the early 90s.

Q: What made you want to do your job?

A: I knew I wanted to be a teacher at an early age.  My father was an HS Business & Typing teacher, and I grew up around a lot of teachers and their families.  I loved being involved with my dad and his job.  It was fun for me.  I then went to the community college and had one of the best science teachers for my zoology class and knew right then that teaching is what I for sure wanted to do.

Q: What are some lessons you have learned while doing your job?

A: I am in my 31st year, and I have learned A LOT! Taking each day as it comes, be prepared for anything, build relationship with students because it makes teaching more fun, work with others, help others and be flexible. 

Q: What are some cons you might have to deal with while doing your job?

A: Kids who don't want to use their potential to do anything at school. It's frustrating when you know someone can do the work and can interact, and they make the choice not to.  

Kids who don't want to behave during class or at school in general.

Parents are sometimes an issue.  When they don't trust the fact that I have taught for as long as I have and they still think they know more than I do.  I don't know everything, but I know quite a bit! 

Sometimes working with others who don't have the same philosophy of teaching as you do.

Q: Is there anything else you want students to know?

A: There are good years and not-so-good years, there are good days and bad days, but being with kids keeps you young and energetic, and it keeps your brain working. (or at least it does for me). I love hanging out with kids and trying to make a difference in their lives.  My job is hard. There are a lot of things to always consider but overall, my job is great!

Q: What are some of your hobbies and what is your favorite one? 

A: My hobbies are sports, reading, walking my dog, and hanging out with my family. My favorite hobby is hanging out with my family. 

Q: What was your other job before this? 

A: The job I had before this was that I worked in an athletic department for many years planning sporting events for high school, I also worked with families with young children helping them make sure their children were ready for Kindergarten, I was a farmer, I worked at a burger king, and I worked at the MSU bookstore. 

Q: What made you want to work here? 

A: Everything I heard about crossroads and Northview. Everyone always said how great the people were to work with. I was really excited because of all the good things I had heard about the staff.

Q: What is your relationship with moxie? 

A: My relationship with Moxie is just like the relationship the students and teachers have with moxie. All the work that's done with moxie is done by Mrs. Haveman or Mrs. Grinwis or Mrs. Shomin so I actually don't really have a role with her. She is more there for me if I need her. 

Q: What is your favorite part of your day? 

A: My favorite part is when a student says hello and smiles it makes me feel good. 

Q: Do you have any kids? 

A: I have two boys 25 and 23.

Q: What is your job here at Crossroads? 

A: My job is to welcome people into the building and help make sure everything is organized and ready for the teachers and the students. I purchase things for the teachers to make sure the teachers have supplies. I make sure that we have substitute teachers if a teacher is going to be out of the building. I'm also available to help students if they ever have questions or just need some extra support.