Duncan High School - Wildkat Yearbook (Duncan, AZ)

Page 14 text:

Mr. Frank Florence, the new math teacher this year, has lived off and on in Duncan for three years. He lived in Tucson before moving here. Mr. Florence enjoys bicycling, mountain and rock climbing, and cross-country and downhill skiing. He also enjoys playing chess and likes puzzles. In his first year teaching at Duncan Mr. Florence has enjoyed getting to know his students. In the future he sees himself working in the geology field. He presented a geology paper at the GSA national meeting in San Antonio. After teaching for a total of twelve years, Mrs. Freddie Gage has a lot of experience to add to her job here in Duncan. She has been teaching special ed. and has been the T.A.G. instructor for the past two years. Mrs. Gage likes the variety her job offers her. Her classes spent some time this year working on composition drawings and oil paintings. Mrs. Gage loves art, and often paints. One of her favorite past-times is camping and she also enjoys riding bicycles. 10 Mrs. Pat Johnson's favorite part of her job is working with students. She has taught at Duncan High School seven years, and before that she taught preschool. This year, the housing students built model homes, and the clothing students modeled the garments they made in class at a fashion show for their parents. Mrs. Johnson is married, has three children, and enjoys doing needlework and going camping. She is also looking forward to the remodeling of the home-ec rooms for next year. Mr. John Smith is a former Californian who is a teacher of freshman English and Spanish at D.H.S. He enjoys having small classes, so that he can do more with them. Outside the classroom he enjoys reading spy novels, drawing, and playing the piano. Mr. Smith said the most exciting thing he did this year was go on his roof-top to turn the T.V. antenna.

Page 13 text:

Mr. Carl Filleman, a Morenci native, has taught at Duncan the past two years. He taught previously for four years in other schools. Mr. Filleman said, I've seen a marked improvement in our facilities as well as in student interest and knowledge.” He cited the lack of motivation as the greatest problem he has seen in students, saying that students hold themselves back from progressing to a higher level of competition. Mr. Filleman said he has enjoyed his association with faculty and students here. He also enjoys bowhunting, weight-lifting, and all other sporting activities. Mr. Jim Barentine's biology and general science classes spent most of the year doing dissections while the chemistry class learned the fundamentals of bending and breaking glass. This was Mr. Barentine's first year teaching. He chose to come to Duncan because he likes small towns, the people in the community are very friendly and helpful, and it is close to where I grew up. One of the interesting things his science classes did this year, was take a trip to the Kitt Peak Observatory, just outside Tucson. Ms. Renda Russell is a newcomer to Duncan this year, having lived in Newton, Iowa, for 23 years before moving to Duncan in August of 1986. Ms. Russell enjoys camping, hiking, biking, and participating in all kinds of sports. She also enjoys traveling to points of interest in the United States. Ms. Russell said, I enjoy teaching at a small school setting such as Duncan. It gives me a chance to get to know the entire school population rather than just students in P.E. and Health classes.” Mr. Wally Foote is a veteran of five years at D.H.S., which he said is a career in certain hazardous occupations!” For highlights of the '86- 87 year he mentioned an art trip to the Southwest Sculpture Show in Scottsdale, and four days he spent at Westcenter for a substance abuse workshop. Mr. Foote also mentioned the fun his Journalism class had while working (and playing) on the school paper and yearbook. All-in-all,” he said, it was a pretty good year.” 9

Page 15 text:

Mr. Sam Gardner has been the woods teacher at Duncan for the past six years. He enjoys teaching woods because it is not a required course and the students get into his class because they want to. Mr. Gardner said he enjoys the kids who really take interest in woods and work hard on their projects. This year as in previous years Mr. Gardner had a exhibition in which students showed the work they had done during the year. Mr. Gardner feels that woods is a class that will help students later in life, when they add on to their home or when they are picking out their home and furniture. It will enable them to be better consumers. Mrs. Susan Cordova has been the librarian here at Duncan for two years now. When asked what she thought of Duncan she said, It's a nice hometown. She moved here from Flagstaff where she took her library science training. Mrs. Cordova enjoys writing and has established a collection of herbs which she plans to landscape into gardens around her home. She added that she learns something new everyday from both books and people. Mr. John Payne is the math and free enterprise teacher here at Duncan High School. Mr. Payne enjoys teaching and working with students. He also enjoys working math problems because, he said, They create a challenge. Mr. Payne has taught at Duncan High for four years and has also taught at the Junior High. Mr. Payne is married and has five girls. The New Mexico native coaches volleyball, basketball, and track. He said he likes to coach track because, All I have to do is give the workout and then they are on their own. 11