Jackson kids head back to school to learn, teach

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

By Sam Petri

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Thanks to the recalibration of Teton County School District teacher salaries, a couple of recent Jackson Hole High School graduates have been able to return to the valley after having left for college, and one long-time Laramie couple was able to move here for the first time.

Just one year ago, this would have been twice as difficult for these teachers, all first-year teachers at JHHS. Although this is by no means a comprehensive list of all the new blood in the school district, here’s a sampling of a few of the new teachers that will be standing in front of your high school student this year, and, hopefully engaging them with their breath-of-fresh-air attitude that young teachers tend to have.

As JHHS Principal Gary Elliott put it, “When I was asked what the biggest challenge is for hiring new teachers I’ve always said ‘None of these kids can come back home.’”
Well, now they can, and have.

“We tried our hardest to hire these people,” said Elliott, “to help promote the interest in teaching.”  

Carl Shuptrine
Since taking Beginning TV at the old Jackson Hole High School, where he learned the basics of film editing using linear deck-to-deck equipment with VHS tapes, Carl Shuptrine has always been around video production equipment. Under the tutelage of Tom Ninnemann, long time AV teacher at JHHS, Shuptrine took advanced TV and then conducted an independent study where he taught himself 3D animation.

After graduating in 1997, his interest in film only grew. He attended the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts in Film, Animation and Video. Shortly after, he returned to Jackson Hole where he scored a job at NBC Channel 2 news working as an anchor and a reporter.

But when the local station shut down, Shuptrine decided to head to Southeast Asia.  There, he landed a gig at a production studio in Vietnam where he edited mostly advertisements, but eventually edited a feature-length Vietnamese romantic comedy, “1735 km.” (Not sure if you’ll find that one at Main Event.) At the time, Shuptrine did not speak Vietnamese, but somehow managed to put the film together.
After ’Nam Shuptrine returned to Jackson Hole and got a job with local action sports film production company Teton Gravity Research.

“I always keep coming back to Jackson and have been lucky to land video production jobs,” he said.

At TGR, he helped edit season three of their TV series “Untracked” and recently completed editing a motorcross series called “The Great Ride Open.”

Tuesday was Shuptrine’s first day back at his alma mater where he replaces his original teacher, Tom Ninnemann, as the Radio and TV Broadcast teacher. JHHS has “built a really nice production studio” with several stations with Final Cut Pro editing systems. “I like to make kids think about what they’re producing,” said Shuptrine, who plans to teach the students the basics of video production with a fine arts slant.

Andrea Overly
With science teachers Sammy Smith and Jessica Dunlap on one-year sabbaticals, Andrea Overly has stepped in to pick up the slack by teaching environmental geology (aka Earth science) as well as the elective anatomy and physiology.

After graduating from JHHS in 2001, Overly obtained her bachelor’s of science in cell and molecular biology from Santa Clara University in California. She then opted to stay in California, where she got her master’s of education with a specialty in sciences from Stanford University. Overly then stayed in the Bay Area and got a job with a biomedical consulting company called Experien Group.

But when she heard about a teaching position opening at JHHS, she was quick to jump on it.

“Going to school here, having the teachers that I’ve had here, is the reason I got into teaching,” said Overly, who noted that while in college, she continued to correspond with a few of her high school teachers. No doubt these relationships as well as having graduated from JHHS, helped her land the job. While at this point the job may only last a year, the school is already working to retain Overly for the future.

“She’ll be here for one year,” said Gary Elliott, “but hopefully longer.”  

Roland Robinson
Principal Elliott described counselor Roland Robinson as a “gentile giant.” It’s no surprise, as Roland was a walk-on offensive lineman for the University of Wyoming from 1989 to 1994.

Robinson, though born in Denver, described himself as a Laramie local, as much of his family is from Laramie and he has spent a great amount of time going to school there. He has a bachelor’s of science in social sciences and psychology, a bachelor’s of arts in secondary education, and a master’s degree in counseling, all from the University of Wyoming.

As a counselor Robinson will be “dealing with crisis and kids with problems. as well as running groups to deal with drugs and alcohol abuse, bullying or divorced parents.”
But Roland stressed his duties will be need based, and because this is his first year, it will take a bit to see exactly in what way his services will be needed.

This August, Robinson moved to Jackson Hole with his wife, who works at Jackson Elementary as a response to intervention teacher – someone who bridges the gap between special education and regular classes.

“We could both get jobs here in the same district,” said Roland. “We wanted to stay in Wyoming, it’s beautiful up here. We want to learn to cross country ski.”

Photo by Derek Diluzio: Parents and siblings walk children to first day of school at Jackson Elementary School.

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Jackson kids head back to school to learn, teach | Planet JH News Article: Jackson Elementary School

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