Meet Your LCHS Profs

Wondering who those professorial-looking strangers were hanging out at the LCHS open house last Monday?  They were your newest members of the high-school staff. 

Hopefully, everyone got a chance to shake the hands of Dr. Barbara Werner and Dr. Chuck Hubbeling and Ms. Meg Ellis.  Soon enough, you’ll meet Mrs. Kay Lannen, too.

Dr. Hubbeling has taught at the South Dakota School of Mines, CSU, the Poudre School District and most recently St. Joseph Catholic Jr. High.   He’s taught math, science, religion, biology and coached soccer.

Hubbeling received his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from South Dakota School of Mines.  He then studied German engineering at Technische Universitaet Muenchen (yes, he speaks a bit of German), got his Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado State University and his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from CSU. 

Then there’s his work experience:  IT Specialist, orthopedic biomechanics research, academia, mining engineering, energy production, professional publications… His resume goes on and on.  Dr. Hubbeling’s next chapter:  LCHS Math, Science and Engineering Instructor.

Dr. Werner earned her PhD in Classics from the University of Colorado at Boulder as a Latinist and historian.  Besides instructing courses in history, Latin and Greek, she has expertise in program planning and design.  She earned her Masters at CU and three B.A.s (Latin, French and Classical Civilization) from the University of Montana.

Werner’s academic career is studded with prestigious awards and fellowships.  Dust off your Herodotus, Vergil, Catullus and Cicero.  Want to sail through college?  Learn from one who’s taught there.  You’re in for fascinating journey through history and culture with LCHS’s newest history and Latin instructor! 

Mrs. Lannen is a professional engineer who has taught and volunteered in classrooms over the past 20 years.  She earned her B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Montana State University and her Masters Degree in Computer Engineering from National Technological University.

Recent projects include camera microcontroller, wind-turbine microcontroller, x-ray image analysis, application networking configuration and serial communications over USB for test applications.  She and her husband run their own custom engineering firm and she has worked at Agilent Technologies and Hewlett-Packard Company going back to 1988. 

Math, science, engineering, physics – no problem!  Mrs. Lannen helps students figure out challenging concepts and knows how to help scholars relate these topics to the real world.  Who knew engineering could be so much fun? 

Ms. Ellis is our new LCHS art teacher.  Talk about talent and energy, Ms. Ellis earned her Masters Degree from the #1 Fine Arts graduate school in America (according to U.S. News) – Rhode Island School of Design.  She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Pennsylvania State University.  

She’s taught in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania.  Her specialties are in contemporary and historical art, studio practices and aesthetics.  She’s an advanced-level instructor whose familiarity with the Core Knowledge Sequence makes her a perfect fit for LCHS. 

To define her teaching philosophy, Ellis quotes Holocaust Survivor and teacher Elie Wiesel, “Receive information, turn it into knowledge, turn knowledge into sensitivity, and sensitivity into commitment…Think higher!  Feel deeper!”

Are you excited for the 2010-11 school year to get started now?  We can certify this:  You’re not nearly as excited as Dr. Hubbeling, Dr. Werner, Mrs. Lannen and Ms. Ellis are to launch LCHS in the direction of Colorado’s best high school.

Rats!  It Happened Again.  During the upper-school concert last week, a couple of the kids’ microphones cut out.  The scholars practiced so hard.  Grandpa came all the way from Michigan to watch.  At least he could see his granddaughter’s lips moving. 

During the May 1st Silent Auction, Liberty’s music instructors Dave Lunn and Erin Voorhies asked the crowd to pitch in to address this annoying problem.  They need about $20,000 to overhaul the sound system. 

Within 20 minutes, the crowd kicked in $17,500!  We’re still a bit short though.

Close The Gap.  If you’re able to help put the finishing touches on this particular project goal, grandpa would be grateful.  Then we can move on to the next funding project.

Please CLICK HERE to contribute now.  Nobody’s child should ever again have to practice for months only to have her microphone cut out on the night of the grand performance.  No more grumpy grandpas please.

Vote Early And Vote Often!  GreatSchools.org is awarding $20,000 in a contest based upon online votes.  CLICK HERE and vote for Liberty.

Werstimedes.  What’s the fastest way to accurately calculate the volume of a standard light bulb?  That was last week’s Smart-Kid Question.  Notable ninth-grader Kati Werst got her answer in at 9:56 a.m. – several hours before the nearest competitor.  Did she cheat? 

Well, she was home recovering from a bad sunburn (Don’t even think about it all you conniving kiddos. That one won’t work a second time) and was doing what all home-bound Liberty scholars do – reading the High-School Update in the Monday Notes minutes after it was published. 

She saw the question and the proverbial light bulb went off.  “Place the light bulb in water and see how much water it displaces or fill it up with water and measure the amount of water in a beaker,” Werst wrote in an instant email.  Good enough for Archimedes.  Good enough to win a prize.  Stop by Mr. Schaffer’s office and take your pick from the Smart-Kid Prize Vault. 

Know Your History.  This week’s Smart-Kid Question is:   What famous quote is associated with thunder coming up over the land from the water?  Who said it and in what language was it spoken?  Extra credit if you can say the author’s name in his native tongue.