Not only are new students walking the halls of Marshfield this year, but there are some new staff members as well.
One of the new hires is dean of students Casey McCord, who worked as a technology education teacher at North Bend Middle School before he came to work at Marshfield. McCord however is not new to this area. As a child he went to Coos Bay schools and graduated in 2003 from Marshfield.
“My mom and dad are both Marshfield graduates and my grandparents were long time
teachers in the Coos Bay school district, so I came from here,” McCord said.
A few years ago, he decided to be an administrator and went through an administrator preparation program at George Fox University where he got his license. Shortly after, he began applying for jobs and got his current job as dean of students at Marshfield. McCord said he is very happy to have gotten this administration job at Marshfield.
“I am really happy to be here. I love this job, it has been really fun to meet all these new people and I enjoy working with high school students,” McCord said.
McCord said his goal for this year is to build strong relationships with as many students and staff members as possible and to get to know the cultural climate of Marshfield so that he can help students and their families in difficult situations.
According to McCord, since being here he has enjoyed the home football games and seeing the CTE programs at work.
“I really enjoyed our first home football game. I was near the student section for it and I thought the students section did a really good job. My favorite thing has just been connecting with a different community that I have not been a part of for the last eleven years,” McCord said.
After the former band director left the district, Kenneth Chaney was hired. According to Chaney, this year he would like to focus on getting the word out about the bands here at Marshfield. He plans to focus on showing the kids in the elementary and middle schools what the band does.
“My primary goal this year is to get the Jazz Band out and playing more. Particularly playing for the little kids, I want to get in the elementary schools at least a couple times this year and play some music for them,” Chaney said.
Also new to the staff roster are math teacher, Molly Gibson, and counselor Jessica Nickerson. Both grew up locally and have come back to town to raise families of their own.
Jessica Nickerson began her career working at Springfield High School, then moving to Myrtle Point High School (MPHS). After alternating working at MPHS and Marshfield she is back at Marshfield working to get to know her new students.
“Getting to know my students is always a challenge but it is also something that I look forward to,” Nickerson said.
Nickerson said that Marshfield is completely different from the much smaller school where she worked before, with just 220 students.
“Coming to a much bigger school where I don’t know students very well is probably going to be one of my biggest challenges, just getting to know everybody,” Nickerson said.
According to Gibson, she prefers the small town atmosphere of Coos Bay to downtown Portland.
“I really like the outdoors and it’s so nice down here. It’s hard to find a community when you are in a huge area like Portland, I like the smaller town and community,” Gibson said.
Gibson said she has a lot more students than when she was in Portland, but has been having a lot of fun.
“It’s beautiful here. Everyday I get to see the gorgeous view. I really like the outdoors and it’s so nice down here,” Gibson said.
According to Gibson, she plans on staying here as she really likes the kids and material she is teaching. Gibson says that when she was living in Coos County previously she just hadn’t realized how beautiful it was.
“When I was a kid I didn’t realize how amazing it was,” Gibson said. “I had to be gone for 20 years in order to realize it. It’s really quiet and beautiful and nice.”
