When asked if students know Ms. Gibson, the responses are never mixed. For those who know her you will hear an ear full about how much she has changed their mindset towards math, school or life. When those unfamiliar with Ms. Gibson are told “The blonde lady outside of the math hallway that is always saying hi to people.” They know exactly who you are talking about.
Renee Gibson has been a teacher for over 30 years and just recently moved back to Iowa after living in Las Vegas, Nev. But for the math teacher; it took her a while to get here.
Growing up in Waterloo, Iowa, and attending Waterloo West High School, just more than an hour away from West High School, Gibson never imagined she would be in front of the classroom after she graduated.
Assuring herself she would never step foot in a high school again, she took her math-savvy mind to Iowa State where she participated on the swim team while majoring in engineering.
After she got her degree she became an architect.
“I got my first job and absolutely hated it,” said Gibson.
Gibson continued to work as an architect until she walked back into a high school for a career day.
“I was working for an architect in Iowa City. So then they sent me, because I was the young one, up to do career days at high schools and I thought it was super fun.” Gibson said.
Gibson realized that she enjoyed teaching about engineering more than it being an actual career for her. From then she was hooked and she went back to school on nights and weekends to get her teaching degree, while continuing her architecture career.
When she got her teaching degree she worked at Brooklyn Guernsey Malcom (BGM) High School, in Brooklyn, Iowa. They have around 260 students in grades 7-12. That is less than the senior class at West High School. Being that the town was so small there were many discrepancies in the school district including teachers, coaches and first responders.
It was second nature for Gibson to fill those gaps in the community. What did she do? She went and got a paramedic’s license.
“Our PE health guy went between the high school and the elementary. He was a paramedic, and then I was a paramedic because we didn’t have a school nurse.”
If being a paramedic wasn’t enough for Gibson, the fire department asked her to join their force for gender equity reasons. Not only was Gibson a math teacher and a coach, but now she was a firefighter and paramedic in her free time.
Riding around with the ambulance and the fire crew brought her to many interesting sights around Powesheik County. Multiple times when she was on her routes she would have run-ins with students that she had seen in the classroom the previous day.
“One morning, two of the kids tried to play chicken on the road in front of the high school and hit each other and so we had to go out and respond as the ambulance crew to two of the kids.”
After a whirlwind of a career in Brooklyn, she had to pack up and leave the state when her husband was offered a new job in Las Vegas, Nev. Coming from a tiny town in Iowa where the population was 1,491 compared to the 646,790 in Las Vegas, was a culture shock for Gibson, in more ways than one.
Although the differences in the climate of school and the state of Nevada were different, Gibson’s focus remained the same. She wanted to get kids excited about math, or at least tolerate it.
She found that no matter how much she tried to get kids engaged and involved with their education, they were still dropping out at staggering rates. As of 2021, Las Vegas had an 81% graduation rate.
“Education is not a priority in Vegas.” Gibson said when talking about why she ultimately decided to come back to Iowa.
“They are (Vegas) last in the nation for education. With the casinos and their service industry, they don’t require a GED.” Gibson explained, “So kids drop out of high school and get a job and we had teachers leave teaching to go be valet drivers because they make more money.”
With kids and educators leaving at such staggering rates, she knew it was time for her to go somewhere that valued education and where she could truly impact a kid’s life and change it for the better.
In the spring of 2021 she saw a job opening for a math teacher at a school in Iowa City. Not only that but a good school in Iowa City. She applied, interviewed and got the job. In the summer of 2021, she moved her family back across the country so she could become the newest part of the math department at West High.
Now, she has just started her 30th year of teaching and her third year at West. But throughout all of the extra jobs she has taken on, the cities she has moved to and the troubled teenagers she has helped.
“There was a group of boys. I didn’t know if they would come back alive any Monday like they were wild.”
Her philosophy has remained untouched by all of the turmoil she has had to teach through.
“I really think it’s to make all kids feel welcome. I know that’s impossible because of personality conflicts but I think it’s trying to reach out to make kids feel like they’re welcome,” said Gibson.
Mini whiteboards and encouraging posters aren’t the only thing you will find in Gibson’s room. No matter what time of day it is, students past and present can always be found asking her for help with math homework, eating lunch or simply just taking a break from the noise of the school day.
“I came in struggling with math but when I walked into my Algebra 2 class, Ms.Gibson changed the way I do math,” said Daniel Kwak ’24. A past student of Gibson’s who can still be found in her room daily, checking in with her.
That is why students can see her in the hallway with a smile plastered across her face, no matter what day she is having, she wants to make sure every student can come to class and get an opportunity to learn.
In Gibson’s world of room 204, every kid has an opportunity to learn, and every day is a new day for those opportunities to be granted.
