Dave McNair, World language teacher

West Side Story: What did you do over break?

Dave McNair: Mostly just stayed at home and relaxed. The highlight was we got our dirt bikes out and during that first bit of snow, we rode our bikes through the snow all over the place. We put on our thick gloves and our coats and our helmets. My two-year-old rode his dirt bikes. I rode my dirt bike. My wife rode her dirt bike. Grandma even rode my wife’s dirt bike. It was kind  of awesome. So, we were just spinning around, doing donuts, having fun in the snow on dirt bikes. 

Stacey Noble, Social studies teacher

West Side Story: What did you do over winter break?

Stacey Noble: Over winter break, I went on a road trip down through Memphis and did a stop at Graceland and the Civil Rights Museum there. Then we went down to the Gulf Coast of Florida and stayed in Panama City Beach.

WSS: What was your favorite part?

SN: Well, I really enjoyed Memphis. We were only there for less than a day, so that’s a place I want to go back to. Being on the beach, being on the sand, being on the water, I’m definitely a water person, so that was enough for me.

 
Catie Wiesley, World language teacher 

West Side Story: What did you do over winter break?

Catie Wiesley: Lots of family time. Lots of eating. We spent a lot of time just sitting, eating, talking, playing games. I’m not sure what the game is called, but it’s popular now, the one where you put a plastic thing in your mouth and have to say words, we played that. It was honestly kind of boring.

Brady Shutt, Social Studies teacher 

West Side Story: What did you do over winter break?

Brady Shutt: One really fun thing: my wife and I went to Florida to visit her parents, who go down there for the wintertime. They are on Manasota Key, it’s by Englewood, Florida. They rent a house that’s on like the inner coastal waterway thing, on the bay side. It’s really beautiful. I did a lot of fishing, on the bay side. They sort of do a lot of sight fishing, for redfish, that’s the kind of fish you try to catch. That was really fun. I was not successful. I kept having the fish go underneath the dock and it would break my line. The other really cool thing that we did in the Gulf, because there was an East Wind, so the Gulf of Mexico was really calm. Every day, we went and swam in the Gulf and so we would swim somewhere between one to two miles and then her mom would kayak next to us. It was like 73 degree water and so it was perfect temperature water and you could see all of the fish swimming around. We did some running on the beach and we found a lot of sharks’ teeth. The big exciting thing was to be able to swim long-distance.

WSS: Was it hard to come back afterward?

BS: Very rough. It was very rough. Luckily, it was warm enough that we were able to do things outside here, but we definitely missed the weather being 83 degree and the beautiful, clear water.

Katy Nahra, English teacher

West Side Story: What did you do over winter break?

Katy Nahra: I spent a lot of time with my family. My daughter and I relaxed and watched some movies. And then I did spend a significant amount of time grading papers.

WSS: What was your favorite part?

KN: Spending time with my daughter and seeing some family members that I don’t get to see very often.

WSS: Did you visit them or did they come to you?

KN: A little of both. Mostly we traveled to them. They’re not too far away, an hour here and there.

WSS: Are they mostly in Iowa?

KN: Yeah, Iowa or Illinois.

Amy Seidel, World Language teacher 

West Side Story: What did you do over break?

Amy Seidel: I spent a lot of time with my son. He got his tonsils out, so we watched a lot of movies.

WSS: Was he miserable?

AS: He’s pretty much a silent sufferer. If it was my daughter, she would have been a little more vocal. But he did a great job. We even traveled to Wisconsin before that and spent some time with family.

Darci Witthoft, English teacher 

West Side Story: What did you do over winter break?

Darci Witthoft: This is the first time that I didn’t go anywhere, I just spent it with family. I absolutely loved it. I thought I would be sad, but we chose to stay home because my son had to take driver’s ed and it was intense. Like, he was gone in the morning, at night; even on New Year’s Day, he had to drive. So, that’s why we stayed home. I read a book, I exercised, I cooked healthy and I hung out with my friends. I had a wonderful time. It sounds kind of boring, though.

WSS: What was the best part?

DW: The best part was just being with family and friends. I like to cook and I was able to do that.