Working with kids has been the story of my life. At a very young age I would line up my dolls and toys to teach them lessons. When my younger brother and sister would cooperate, I always found ways to practice my teaching skills on them. Many of the strategies and skills I used back then were modeled from the Catholic education I received at St. John LaLande in Blue Springs, Missouri. The eight years in that Catholic faith-based setting helped form the person I am today.

It seems so long ago, when I was playing school, and now those days have turned to years of teaching and learning with children. I started teaching at Pleasant Hill, MO; it is a suburb town of Kansas City. I taught remedial math and language arts in the middle school. After three years of remedial, I transitioned into a sixth grade classroom. I worked with sixth graders until I moved to the Jefferson City area. I followed my parents after they retired back to their hometown of Freeburg. When I first moved to Linn, I took a one year position at Our Lady of the Snows in Mary’s Home teaching a combined third and fourth grade classroom. In 1996, I accepted a teaching position at Linn Elementary, where I taught fifth, sixth, and Title 1 reading throughout the years until I retired in 2017.

My retirement led me to St. George. I am reminded of Proverbs 16:9, “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” I am blessed that my steps have led me to St. George where I can continue my teaching and learning with children in a Catholic faith-based setting. I feel so welcomed and look forward to working with the families at St. George.

Get to Know Ms. Parrish!

I have been in Catholic education for many years. It is my job as Catholic educator to incorporate the faith concepts in secular subject areas. I believe that the key components of faith can be achieved through those secular subjects of science and social studies, which I will be teaching this year to 6th- 8th grade.

I am looking forward to reinforcing religious doctrine with facts and knowledge found in science and social studies. By incorporating faith principals into daily activities, I am hoping that my students leave my class with a stronger relationship with God.

Get to Know Mr. Maranowski!

Hello! My name is Jennifer Gast! I am excited to be in my second year here at St. George! My teaching experience includes a year in Dorchester, MA (which is a section in the south end of Boston) where I was teaching 5th and 6th grade Science, teaching math, science and social studies overseas in Kazakhstan and Kuwait, secondary Science and History in New Haven, CT at a Charter Magnet High school and also at Immaculate Conception in Jefferson City, where I was the 7th and 8th grade Science teacher! I have a Bachelors in Secondary Education from Taylor University and a Masters in Educational Theory and Practice from Arkansas State. I am a firm believer in the importance of community in education and in life, and am excited to again be joining a community in the Diocese of Jefferson City, it feels a bit like coming home! Besides teaching, God has opened doors to serve in youth ministry, missions across the globe and my favorite odd job - coffee shop barista (I really do love coffee!) I hope to bring to the Junior High my experience and love of this world God has created, including the people in it!! And to bring to the community another individual dedicated to knowing and serving God and learning to live a life of righteousness and justice as we do life together. (Amos 5:24; Micah 6:8) I am coming to Jefferson City with my cat, Dahesh, he was a rescue from Kuwait :) and has traveled the world with me! The rest of my immediate family, including my parents, sister and her family and brother and his family, all live in Connecticut. I come from a family of faith-filled service-oriented professionals. My father is a pastor, my brother is also a teacher and my sister is a paramedic. We all love to travel, learn about communities we live in and visit and we all love animals!! I am so excited to be continuing at St. George as the 8th grade homeroom and Junior High Math and Science teacher. I want to use my knowledge to improve critical thinking, approach problem solving and deeper application skills in all content areas, getting students ready for the challenge of High School!! We will work together to deepen our understanding of text, write more detailed paragraphs with our own reasoning, solve and explain multi-step math problems and of course investigate scientific ideas and skills!! We will also increase our note-taking and study skills, always learning to be even more independent learners!