Meet the Teachers!

Spencer Hall

By Eli Solomon

Coach Spencer Hall is 28 days into his teaching career as I am writing this. He was a proud Poteau Pirate going to Northeastern Sate University and majoring in Business Administration and has minor in Media Studies. He is the instructor of our revamped Pirate News courses, the girls’ soccer coach, and the sponsor for our TSA (Technology Student Association) chapter. He enjoys teaching and coaching equally. Outside of the classroom he enjoys spending time with his two-year-old daughter, playing board games, watching sports, and reading. He is also a contributor to SB Nation and covers Oklahoma Sooners Football. His experience coming back has been positive. “It’s been great so far, getting to invest back into the school and community I grew up in is super rewarding.” He has some big plans for this year's production of Pirate News “My vision is to provide a great foundation for the future of this program and continue to grow it.”

Joe Westfall

By Brookie Balido

Meet Mr. Joe Westfall, one of the newest math teachers in Poteau. Boasting nearly 40 years of residing in Poteau, he has previously taught at PKMS and PHS, where he claims to have had the privilege of teaching the highest quality of students. Joe comes across as laid-back, but when it comes to following the curriculum and guiding his students to the desired destination, he ensures that his students learn as much as possible during the journey. He has over ten years of experience teaching college-level math, including College Algebra and other advanced courses. Mr. Westfall is well aware of the challenges that college-level math presents, and he aims to prepare his students accordingly. When asked about his expectations for the year, he replied, "I'm thrilled to be teaching Algebra II again. Some of the skills and concepts we teach help bridge the students to higher-level math, and it's fun to take them there." Let's give Mr. Westfall a warm welcome and make this year a memorable one for him and his students!

Shane Winford

By Eli Solomon

Mr. Shane Winford is Poteau High School's new assistant band director. He graduated from the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith with a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education with his concentration being in instrumental music. "It’s a 4-year degree where we learned the fundamentals of all band instruments, as well as the basics of orchestra and choir instruction.” Mr. Winford began his music journey in 1997 at his church, later joining his school's music programs. He plays trumpet and guitar in two bands based in the Northwest Arkansas area. Before coming to Poteau, he taught private music lessons "This will be my first full-time position as a public educator. I am really excited that it’s here in Poteau." Outside of school, he enjoys rock climbing, playing video games, tennis, and spending time with his daughter. His favorite part of his job is getting to interact and teach students, “Everyone is friendly and eager to learn at all my schools. Five of my six classes are completely different so [I] get to work with everyone from 5th grade to 12th grade every day.”

Belinda Westfall

Meet one of Poteau High’s new Teachers: Mrs. Westfall

Belinda Westfall has moved to Poteau High School as the newest English teacher, “This school is my alma mater, I attended school here from kindergarten until my senior year, then I graduated.” Mrs.Westfall teaches English II and a web design class. “We use several software applications to learn. We use some Canva to learn the principles of design. We're going to use Photoshop to learn how to edit images and create custom graphics.” Westfall hopes to use her web design class as a highway into Pirate Production classes so that passionate students could continue their interest in media work. “We will also get into the introductory part of using Adobe Premiere, that way if my students want to take Pirate Video next year they will already have some part of the skillset,” Mrs.Westfall has taught a little bit of everything, with her teaching remote ranging from freshman english up through being a instructor and teaching at Carl Albert State College, “I've taught video editing, I've taught Photoshop, business communications, comp II and comp III, and I was a school counselor for four years,”

Mrs. Westfall is a welcome addition to the hallways of PHS. “I’m excited to be in Poteau and to be back teaching in my hometown. I can't wait to go attend all the kids' events again; the plays, the concerts, and everything else.”

Logan Rea

By Eli Solomon

Logan Rea is our newest Agriculture Education instructor. Mr. Rea is a veteran of the teaching field ,formerly lecturing at Wilburton Public School for four years and Eastern Oklahoma College for three years. He majored in Ag Economics and minored in marketing and management. Mr. Rea enjoys teaching students about food science, the food industry works, FFA history, and teaching his 8th-grade Intro to Agriculture class. His goal as a teacher is to help students grow a larger perspective of agriculture and help them set and achieve goals for themselves. His move to Poteau was quite an interesting one. “We were excited for the opportunity to move here and begin work but were unable to start moving until the last weekend of July so it was very hectic!” Outside of School Mr. Rea enjoys spending time with with his wife and three children along with being active in his church.

Trevor Shankle

As new students come in, so do teachers. Nine teachers left, but nine newcomers took their places. Trevor Shankle, also known as Coach Shankle, is one of the newest teachers at Poteau High School. He teaches American History and Geography. His American History class is just for juniors and Geography mainly has sophomores. After teaching at the middle school, high school was certainly a change. “I always felt like I wanted to teach at the high school,” said Shankle. “The opportunity presented itself to me this year and I’m excited to be here.” Coach Shankle may look like a soft marshmallow, but I wouldn’t cross him. He helps coach our football team to victory and he always looks out for students to be their best. Even though it’s only a few days of school, his students are good in class so far, and easier to teach than middle school students. My curiosity got me and so I asked Coach Shankle what the best memory he had from teaching middle school. “The best memory was probably having you in class.” He was a great middle school teacher, although I think he’ll do great teaching high school.

Regina Smith

By: Keily Morales

Mrs. Smith teaches sophomore and junior English. She taught English and Language arts at the junior high level in McCurtain for three years. She decided to start teaching Family and Consumer Science in Cameron. At the end she decided to go back to English and she was very excited to see that this position was open! Mrs. Smith was also in the process of getting her Speech and Debate Certification. Mrs. Smith grew up in LeFlore county, but ended up in a few towns, including Whitesboro, from which she graduated high school. She started teaching in 2018, so this is her fifth year.

She was a newspaper editor, but decided to go back to school in 2015 and get her teaching certificate. She attended Carl Albert State College, and obtained an Associate degree in journalism and public relations. She worked as a reporter at several newspapers in Oklahoma and Arkansas. Then in 2015 she was an editor for small community newspapers in Sequoyah County. After that she decided to go back to school to become a teacher. Mrs. Smith attended the University of Arkansas, Fort Smith where she obtained a Bachelor's degree in English with a minor in speech and then obtained her teaching certificate. Mrs. Smith and fiance Lee LeMaster have been together for 19 years. She has 8 kids, 3 grandsons, and a lot of pets! She loves everyone and being here in Poteau.

Sheri Johnson

By: Keily Morales

Sheri Johnson is the office secretary. She has been working here for 34 years. She was a custodian in 1988, and moved to the office in 2007. Sheri grew up in Poteau and has lived here most of her life. Sheri Johnson graduated from Poteau High School and attended Carl Albert State College where she received her Associate Degree in Business. She enjoys camping, fishing, kayaking, and watching her granddaughter cheer. Sheri and her husband have been married for 15 years and they have one daughter together. She encourages all students to stay in school and graduate and you can do anything that you want if you set your mind to it and put the work in.

Casey Hemphill

By: Keily Morales

While Casey Hemphill is no stranger to Poteau Public Schools, he's starting a new career at Poteau High School! He's a science teacher at the 7/8th grade and high school. He studied at Carl Albert State College, and then went on to study at University of Arkansas for a year. He then went on to finish his bachelor degree in SouthEastern which is in Durant…and then he finished his masters degree through E-Central in ADA. In total he has been in college for 7 years. Hemphill teaches one hour of 7th grade science, two hours of freshmen science, an hour of junior high weight-lifting and athletics, and an hour of high school athletics. He loves his fulfilling job, “It is when things are going good, it makes you feel really good.” Hemphill says. He likes to make relationships, that's the most important thing to him. He would like to change the money problems, “We make too much money, too much money to the point we don’t know what to do with it all.” he says. He loves to hunt and workout, that’s his go to things to do in his free time. He would like to do things better for himself like, patience, and letting stuff go. Hemphill has two cats and their names are Puss and Payton.

Tarron Barnes

Tarron Barnes is an English co-teacher here at PHS. She has been working at Poteau for 12 years. She is a graduate of CASC and NSU. Her favorite part of her job is finding students' individual needs and helping them overcome the obstacles they face. She has 5 dogs, 2 guineas, and a rooster at home. Outside school, she enjoys traveling, spending time with friends and family, playing games, swimming, reading, and having bonfires. Some of her favorite movies are Pearl Habor,10 Things I Hate About You, Armageddon, Up Close and Personal, And all of the Bourne movies.

Valerie Odom

Mrs. Valerie Odom is one of our most well known teachers. This is her 21st year teaching at Poteau High. She teaches Algebra I to the freshmen students. Before Poteau, she went to Edwardsville Highschool in Edwardsville, Illinois. Valerie graduated high school in 1993, went to Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri, and graduated in 1998. She has also been coaching for 17 years. She coached a varsity cheer squad in Missouri for 3 years. She then came to Poteau and began coaching the freshmen squad; she later moved to coach varsity. “There are so many important roles in being a coach,'' says Odom, “But my most important is preparing my squad for their future. Being responsible individuals, and upstanding citizens.”

Another thing that's important to Valerie is her family. They love to go to the Drive-In and watch movies together, cook, spend quality time with each other, and sit by the fire pit and play games. “Right now it's just Coach Odom and myself at home, both kids are at college. Morgan is a senior at OSU and Dean is a freshman at NSU. Coach Odom and I are all about Pirate football right now!”

Jane Peters

Mrs. Peters was an office secretary for 23 years at Pansy Kidd Middle School. She just moved to Poteau High School this year. Mrs. Peters likes to garden and she enjoys doing arts and crafts. She has two daughters, who graduated in 2005 and 2007. She has two grandchildren, one in second grade and one in fifth grade. Mrs. Peters favorite part of her job is seeing kids everyday, her least favorite thing about her job is getting up early.

Susan Vincent

Susan Vincent is the new high school registrar. Mrs. Vincent has been a school registrar in middle school for 19 years, so high school is a new change for her. Vincent grew up in Washington State, specifically Olympia, Tumwater, and Shelton. Vincent never has been in another state until now, but she loves it here! Before Vincent came to Poteau, both she and her husband both worked for the Pioneer School District in Shelton, WA. She worked as the Health Room Assistant the first 12 years and the last 7 years as the principal/building secretary/registrar. Vincent went to high school at Capital for 2 years. Then in 1987 she graduated from Tumwater High school.

Tumwater HS reminds her of Poteau in that they were very supportive of sports like Poteau. Susan Vincent is married to Kevin Vincent, the custodian at the SEC. She has two children and has 3 grandkids also. She loves all the people and the school here, “That old saying about not letting what others think of you affect you, Be true to you and don't conform yourself to everyone else. God made each of us perform differently for His purpose. Have a great work ethic in whatever job or task you are given whether it be home, school or job.” said Vincent. Thank you Mrs. Vincent for coming to Poteau! We are happy to have you here!

Grace Mangrum

Mrs. Grace Mangrum is Poteau’s new English and drama teacher, and also thespians troupe sponsor. She teaches the freshman and sophomore classes. In high school, she was a cheerleader, basketball player, spirit club president, student council treasurer, newspaper editor, and in concurrent classes. She was very involved in her school, but sometimes she felt like she didn’t fit in; however, I think she fits well here. After she graduated she stayed in the school dorm at Carl Albert State College. After she got her associates, she went to Northeastern State University and graduated with her teaching degree in 2019. Grace married her husband Gunnar Mangrum in 2017 and they have a little boy named Gilly.

She decided to teach here in Poteau to help raise her family. “I spent my first two years teaching in Waco, Texas, where we had over 1,000 students on campus every day. It was huge. I also love all of the great programs that are offered here at Poteau. My first month teaching her has been amazing! Go Pirates!” A little advice from her to her students, “Get involved. You only get one childhood, don't watch time pass you by. Make every moment count, and remember, reading literally makes you smarter!”

When Grace isn’t teaching she’s playing on her Nintendo Switch. Her favorite games are Pokemon, Legends of Arceus, and Animal Crossing. She’s currently getting her masters in Instructional Leadership. She loves teaching and has wanted to be a teacher since she was 5 years old. Also to her students, I advise you not to cross her, because I found out that she’s secretly a ninja!

Coffee Ballard

Coffee Ballard is Poteau High School’s psychology teacher. She has been teaching for 17 years, she taught at Kellyville for 11 years before coming to Poteau. She graduated from Southwestern Oklahoma State University in 2003. Before becoming a teacher she worked at a behavioral facility. She became interested in psychology when she started studying the psychiatric unit in med school. She has two kids, a son, Pierce, and a daughter, Tregan, she also has two dogs, Striker and Quincy. Outside of school she enjoys traveling, going Scuba diving, and skiing.

Dr. Brittion

Dr. Britton transferred to Poteau High School this year. He previously worked in the 7th and 8th grade center. This will be his 6th year teaching the sciences. Dr. Britton gets his prestigious title thanks to his doctorate in avian physiology (bird body science) from the University of Missouri.

Proper to teaching, Doc then had an interesting career in the poultry industry, “I started out after I got my doctorate, I worked for Oklahoma State University- I was an extension poultry specialist, I worked with them as an adult educator and taught agriculture specialist about poultry,” Dr. Britton would continue his quest to educate farmers about birds for nearly 12 years before serving as an environmental director, then as became a professional poultry inspector. Having ended his career with chickens, Doctor Britton moved into teaching. “I hate to sound cliche, but I always felt I would be pretty good at teaching,” he added.

If you were to walk into the upstairs classroom of the good doctor you’d notice his two pet Oryctolagus Cuniculus also known as the Rabbit. Acorn is the name of the little female and Oakley is the male. “Oakley kinda a take-charge guy, Acorn is a little sweeter, but if you pay attention she's his boss.” after the interview Dr. Britton wanted to depart some wisdom with the readers of Poteau Pirate Log: “Enjoy the time you have here, and don't take it all too seriously.” Poteau High School is excited to have The Incredible Doctor B, his motorcycle, and his iconic class aides: Acorn and Oakley.

Ryan Dill

Ryan Dill is Poteau High Schools’ softball, baseball, and basketball coach. He began teaching in 1999, before coming to Poteau he coached at Allen, Texas for 17 years. He wanted to become a coach because he loves sports, working with kids, and how sports change their lives. His coaching is inspired by his old high school coach Billy Jack Bowen. His favorite sports to coach are baseball and softball. His favorite food is steak and he enjoys hunting and building things in his free time.

Mike Odom

This is Mike Odom, he teaches Oklahoma history and government. He has been here for thirteen years and he is also a varsity football coach, defensive coordinator, head freshmen football coach, and head of powerlifting. Coach Odom is married to varsity cheer coach Valerie Odom and they have two children, Morgan Odom who is twenty and goes to OSU, and son Dean who is eighteen and committed to play football at UCO. Mr. Odom graduated from Poteau in 1992, attended Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri on a football scholarship, and majored in business administration.

Darla Humphries

Mrs.Humphries is a Physical Science teacher at Poteau High School. She graduated from Carl Albert State College in 1985, OSU in 1987, and NSU in 1991. She got her master’s in counseling at NSU and then went to get her secondary education at OSU. She has been teaching for 27 years, 18 at the high school and 9 at the elementary school where she taught T1. She is married and has 2 daughters. She enjoys fishing and spending time with her family. Her favorite book would be the bible. Her favorite food is lobster.

Misty Upton

This is Misty Upton. Mrs. Upton is one of our counselors this year. She was the FACS teacher and FCCLA advisor last year. She has taught fourteen years and finally became a school counselor. Mrs. Upton has been here four years. Mrs. Upton graduated from Bokoshe and attended Eastern Oklahoma State College. Mrs. Upton has been married nine years and has a son. In her spare time Mrs. Upton loves seeing the world or any activity coming her way, watching baseball, riding her Peloton, and learning new things everyday.

Tom Brennan

Tom Brennan is an AP/World History teacher here at PHS as well as Carl Albert. He attended the Northeastern State University of Central Oklahoma and has 25 years of experience teaching with his favorite subject being history his favorite sports are tennis and Running. His hobbies include cycling and reading. If you keep your eyes peeled you might see Mr. Brennan cycling around town.

Joe Ballard

Joe Ballard is the high school principal. Mr. Ballard grew up in Luther, Oklahoma which is a small farming community next to Edmond, Oklahoma. He graduated college from Northeastern University with a Bachelors’s and Masters’s Degree. Then he started coaching football in Texarkana, TX. Eventually, he moved back to Oklahoma to coach football and basketball. Mr. Ballard is married to Coffee Ballard and they have two children. In his spare time, he enjoys hunting, fishing, and athletics with his kids.

Ashlee Taylor

Ashlee Taylor is one of the new high school counselors. Before that, she taught biology I. Mrs. Taylor has been at Poteau high school for ten years now and is excited to be a counselor at Poteau high school. She has a husband of thirteen years and two children. She loves to show rein horses, dancing, and help children achieve their goals.

Matt Kennedy

The high school welcomes new teacher Matt Kennedy. Mr. Kennedy is an assistant football coach and head coach of wrestling. “My dream for my wrestling team is to win a district title and I want to coach a State Champion in wrestling this season,” said Kennedy. He has been teaching for seven years and coaching ten. He has been married five years and has a rottweiler named Boss. Mr. Kennedy looks up to his parents and coaches. His parents were also teachers, his mother taught school for thirty years and his father has been teaching for twenty. His coaches also inspired him to coach and he loves doing it. The teaching style he uses is treating his students how he wants to be treated and hopes it will make a positive impact on someone and they will do the same to someone else. Mr.Kennedy grew up in Geary and taught high school there. He was ready for something new so he came to Poteau High School. He has taught many different things such as Tech Ed, Alternative Education, and Elementary PE. Mr.Kennedy is currently teaching computer apps one and financial literacy and he is loving what he was available to teach.

Stefany Snipes

Mrs. Stefany Snipes is the librarian at PHS. She graduated high school from Poteau, going on to Carl Albert and then transferring to Northeastern State University.

Mrs. Snipes has a son and a daughter who are twins. She also has 4 dogs and 1 cat but considers them her kids as well. Before she had kids, Mrs. Snipes’s favorite hobbies were reading, painting, traveling, and spending time with friends. Now that she has kids, she spends a lot of time in the car taking them to practices, games, and performances. But she occasionally finds time to read and be crafty. When it comes to her favorite food, there is none. She likes everything except seafood. If Mrs. Snipes could take a vacation anywhere right now, it would depend on who she is going with. If it is her family, she would go on an Alaskan cruise, NYC, or Disneyland. If it was just her and her husband, she would go on a Mediterranean cruise. And if it was a girls’ trip, she would go to the beach.

Leslie Hemphill

Leslie Hemphill is one of Poteau High School's counselors and also one of the Poteau Pom Squad coaches. She graduated from Carl Albert State College in 2010 then she went to the University of Arkansas in 2012, and then she went back to school and got her bachelor’s degree at East Central University in 2016. She went to school for an undergraduate degree in psychology and a master’s education in secondary counseling. Before she became a counselor she was an education coordinator with Gear-Up for three years. She saw herself pursuing the job of a counselor, but she loves students so she wanted to combine the two. She enjoys traveling and Crossfit and spending time with the dance team, and going home and spending time with her kitties, Peyton and Puss. Her favorite movies are Halloween and Christmas movies. Her favorite foods are pasta, tacos, and sushi.

Katy Walls

Mrs.Walls is a 9th grade English teacher who has been teaching for 12 years. She attended The University of Arkansas where she played D-1 softball where she was selected to pitch against Team USA in 2008. Her favorite food is Chick-fil-A and doesn’t have many hobbies “However, I do have laundry. Laundry will always be there for you.” When asked about her life’s goal Mrs. Walls said,“At the end of my life, if someone remembering me says that they knew I tried to be like Jesus, then I will have achieved my greatest goal. I want to lead people to Jesus.”

Rachel Hackler

Rachel Hackler graduated from Miami High School in 2000, NEO A&M in 2002, and UAFS in 2013. Currently, she teaches FCS Basics (Family and Consumer Sciences), Culinary Arts, and Interpersonal Studies. She has two teenagers, a daughter named Emma and a son named Dylan. Her favorite Holiday is Christmas because she gets to celebrate Christ’s birth and life. She also enjoys spending time with her family and watching cheesy Hallmark movies. If she could tell her 7-year-old self something, she would say “Be brave!. Don’t let worrying about failing hold you back from trying.”

Jennifer Brooks

Jennifer Brooks tecahes English. She went to UAFS when it was a junior college, then she transferred to Arkansas Tech University where she got a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration. She has taught at Panama, Union Christian, and Spiro. She has been teaching at Poteau High School for four years. She was a career tech teacher where she taught business and technology. At the end of her first year of teaching, she was asked to be the ICAP coordinator. She loves this position because, in addition to teaching English, she has an opportunity to use her business background to do events and help students with their career and academic planning. She also worked in corporate business for 15 years before she got her Alternative Teaching Certification. She enjoys spending time with her family, shopping, walking, fishing, snow skiing, and traveling. Her favorite place that she has traveled to would be Naples Beach in Florida. Her favorite foods are Mexican and Starbucks. Her favorite TV show is “Gilmore Girls” and her favorite movie would be “Steel Magnolias”. One of her favorite quotes from the movie is, “I love you more than my luggage.”

Alisha Smedley

Alisha Smedley is the choir and humanities teacher at Poteau High School. She has been a teacher for 18 years. Before becoming a music teacher she was a political science/pre-law major but she realized that wasn’t what she wanted to do with her life. She knew she wanted to become a music teacher when she began giving voice lessons for extra cash. ”My first few students were talented but had no self-confidence. In our work together in the first year, I watched them grow as musicians and in their ability to perform in front of others. The joy and satisfaction in knowing I was a small part of that was very inspiring and I quickly realized that it was far more fulfilling than my current career path.” Before coming to Poteau she taught at Muldrow for five years. Her favorite choir show is the Christmas Pageant. “l love the tradition of it and the fact that so many in our community participated in it when they were in school and that we still do it, but I also love the music.” The strangest thing she has ever seen in class was when her students dressed up mannequins to look like students. Outside of school, she takes care of her five-year-old daughter, and she enjoys traveling to other places, her favorite being Italy. She also serves on the Board for our local Community Theater and she normally directs at least one show a year for them.

Eric Hackler

Eric Hackler is the vice principal here at PHS. He went one year at Carl Albert State College after High School. Then he went to Oklahoma State University in Stillwell, Oklahoma, and got his bachelor’s degree in chemistry because he wanted to be a pharmacist. When he switched his major, he switched it to education. He got his master’s degree in Educational Leadership at Arkansas State University and went on to be a vice principal. In college, he worked at Herps Car Rental where he ended up being the manager. He enjoys going to watch his daughter play sports, traveling with his family, and golfing when he has time. His favorite food would be steak, it used to be chicken-fried chicken but anything fried tastes awful due to when he had Covid-19. His favorite movie would be Dumb and Dumber.

Leslie Shepherd

Leslie Shepherd is a custodian at Poteau high school she has been working at PHS for 2 years. Her favorite part of her job is knowing that she is keeping PHS clean and safe for all to enjoy. The hardest part of her job is keeping the floors shiny. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family. Her favorite book is Hamlet and her favorite movies are the Harry Potter movies. The strangest thing she has ever seen on the job was when she saw a ghost.

Bridget Dill

Bridget Dill is a biology teacher at Poteau High School. She also coaches girls basketball, softball, and cheer. She graduated from East Central University, she has been teaching for 20 years, she’s coached basketball for two years, softball for four years, and cheer for five years, before she came to Poteau she taught at Allen, Texas. Before teaching, she was a buyer and merchandiser. Her favorite activity to do in class is shark dissection. She has three kids Jagger, Annika, and Blyss. Outside of school, she likes to go shopping and refurbish furniture. If she won the lottery she would use the money to travel around the world.

A Pirate With A Spanish Flair: Mr. Tarin

By: Aniston Cox

Meet Mr. Tarin, one of our new high school teachers! Mr. Tarin majored in Spanish and has a degree in Physical Education. He received those degrees from a university in Mexico. Mr. Tarin taught Physical Education for five or six years while in Mexico. He taught at Pocola for two years. He is now at Poteau High School where he teaches a Spanish class, and has been given the opportunity to teach a Humanities class for students. This move for Mr. Tarin has made life easier for him, “ I was living in Poteau so circumstances were favorable.” The move from a smaller school does require some adjustment, “ The environment is a lot calmer there due to the smaller number of students in that district.” Mr. Tarin does bring a special factor to his subject. “I’m a walking Hispanic culture”, along with “ When you see me you know that.” Mr. Tarin knows that his classroom will better the student experience. “It creates confidence in the students when getting in contact with other cultures.” Mr. Tarin is full of advice for the students for this school year “ I will tell them to study. Education will allow them to see and understand the world with more clarity; bringing them peace, satisfaction and freedom.” “Education will give students the opportunity to reach what they would like to have and that education is the wind beneath your wings.” Mr. Tarin stated, “I would tell the students that quote because I believe that education can contribute to a happy life.” At Poteau High School we are excited to be welcoming Mr. Tarin to our school, and we wish him the best of luck this year!

New Math Teacher ADDED To Poteau High School

By: Aniston Cox

Meet Mrs. Benge. ! Mrs. Benge is one of our newest teachers at Poteau High school. She has a BS and MS in math education, along with a principal certification. Quite a few students may remember her because she had been a substitute teacher here at Poteau. She was then offered a job here after applying for an open position. “ I was not ready to retire.” Mrs. Benge now teaches Geometry and Pre-Calculus. Before, Mrs. Benge decided to join us at Poteau High School, she taught at another school in Canadian, Texas for 33 years. While she was in Texas she taught Algebra II, Pre-Calculus/ Calculus and Trigonometry. The environment at a new school and especially in a different state can be very scary. “ It was a very conservative school in the Texas Panhandle.” After retiring from teaching, she went to a water well company and was doing Accounts Receivable until December of 2022. Some students love math and so does Mrs. Benge, "I love math and I also love to help the students with that subject.” She hopes that students will understand it and hope that they love it too. Mrs. Benge has some advice that she wanted to share with the students for this year and that is, “ Always do your best!” Poteau High School is very excited to have Mrs. Benge as a part of the teaching staff for this year and we look forward to an amazing year with her!

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