Academics 3
February 16, 2023
New English electives culminate in projects for upcoming literary magazine
When students sat down to
choose which classes to take in the 2022-
23 school year, there were a few new
options for them to pick from. Among
them were Mythology, offered by
English teacher Karina Krall, and Fairy
Tales, offered by English teacher Beth
Gallagher, both of which were one-
semester classes offered in the first
semester.
“Mythology is something that I
have always been interested in,” said
Krall of why she wished to start the class.
“I traveled to Greece many, many years
ago, and I’ve seen many things that have
been linked to all the myths and all the
gods and goddesses. It’s always been an
interest, so I wanted to offer it if I had the
option for an English elective.”
Gallagher also explained, “I’ve
never taught an elective before, and I
think fairy tales have a lot to teach
people. I think we need more things like
that in our lives. Fairy tales give students
something to think about and explore,
and I just like the idea of doing
something new.”
For a final project, the Fairy
Tales class took popular fairy tales and
spun them into “fractured fairy tales.”
Gallagher presented the class
with a list of 30 fairy tales to choose
from. They then had to change the
protagonist, antagonist, and setting while
keeping the overall messages and morals
the same.
Gallagher, one of the creators of
the new WBHS literary magazine called
Vector (see page 9) plans to feature a
couple of the stories written in the class
Artwork by
Logan Foster
Paulsen
Mythical God
“Hakor”
Created by
Wyatt Fiderlein
New PE/health teacher, Spec. Ed. teacher arrive at WB
Anna Waterman
Staff Writer
Grant Meth
What do you teach at West Branch?
If you also have extracurricular
assignments, add those.
High School PE, Health 1 & 2, 7th
grade Wellness
Tell us about your educational
background (majors/colleges).
I graduated from Wartburg College with
a bachelor’s in Physical Education and
endorsements in Health and 5-12
Science
Tell us about your past teaching
experience.
This is my first teaching job, but I have
subbed since I was a junior in college.
Tell us about your family. Where are
you from?
I am from Marion, IA. Both of my
parents are teachers at Marion, and my
sister is a freshman at Kirkwood.
Why did you decide to come to West
Branch?
It is a great community with great
people and a strong reputation for
Olivia Naber Rylee Shimon
Junior Senior
Head Editor-in-Chief Co-Editor-in-Chief
Page Designer: P. 1 Writer
Writer & Photographer
Maryam Martin Kya Montgomery
Junior Junior
Page Designer: P. 11 Page Designer: P. 3
Writer Writer
Nora Ziehr Caitlin Harrison Karina Krall
Sophomore Freshman
Writer Writer
The Bear
in the magazine.
“I want to pick at least five,
maybe eight. There are a lot of good
ones,” said Gallagher. “I’m just looking
for good writing...creative characters,
people who can tell a story with a
beginning, middle, and end. Just good
writing, basically.”
When asked how happy she was
with the class’s finished works, she
exclaimed, “Love, love, love all of them!
From the ninth graders—in this class we
had quite a few ninth graders—all the
way up to twelfth graders, and even
though the level of writing is quite
different, the ninth graders really put
forth some effort, and it was amazing to
see. They really did a great job.”
Similarly to Fairy Tales, Krall’s
Mythology class will have their final
project featured in Vector. As a final
project, each student was assigned to
create their own deity, coming up with
everything from the backstory to their
physical attributes and writing an original
myth for their character.
As Krall described her concept
of a final project to art teacher Molly
McCarthy, the two of them had the idea
to bring students and artists together to
make the deities come to life even
further.
“I was mentioning to Mrs.
McCarthy what I was thinking of doing
for this project, and the idea kind of hit
us at the same time that we should try and
find some art students who would be
willing to make the god or goddess come
out in some artistic medium based on
these descriptions the kids were coming
Artwork by
Teyha
Chandler
Mythical
God
“Qhizotz”
Created by
Alex
Heithoff
excellence.
What are you looking forward to
most at West Branch?
I am looking forward to meeting all of
the students and getting to know them
better.
What is your favorite food?
Chicken fajitas
What are your hobbies?
I enjoy playing and watching sports,
working out, hanging with
friends/family, and listening to music.
If you could travel anywhere in the
world, where would you go and why?
Anywhere with a beach
If you could travel anywhere in the
world, where would you go and why?
Greece. I would love to visit all of the
ancient sites.
Devin Kazlauskas
What do you teach at West Branch?
If you also have extracurricular
assignments, add those.
High School Special Ed, Elementary
Special Ed, and Elementary ELL.
Tell us about your educational
background (majors/colleges).
Katey Noble Peyton Braddock Ava Hazelwood
Junior Junior
Co-Editor-in-Chief Co-Editor-in-Chief
Page Designer: P. 9 Page Designer: P. 12
Writer Writer & Photographer
Miley Shields Keaton Norfleet Will Tidrick Anna Waterman
Sophomore Sophomore
Writer Writer &
Photographer
The Bear is published 7 times during the school year and is distributed to West Branch High School students. It is an insert in the West Branch
Times. Printing is handled by the Marshalltown Times Republican. The Bear staff follows the ethical guidelines set fourth by the Society of Pro-
fessional Journalists, Quill and Scroll, and the Iowa High School Press Association. The Bear will provide an open forum in which diverse opinions
The Bear Adviser of students, faculty, and wider community may be expressed in exercise of democratic rights. Any submissions should be limited to 250 words or
less and may be edited for legal and ethical reasons. All letters to the editor must be signed.
up with.’”
McCarthy reached out to
students in the school who she believed
would be up to the task of bringing the
students’ work to life. These artists
created the art on their own time,
collaborating with the students to make
it as accurate as possible.
Krall is still whittling down her
list of projects to submit to Vector.
She said, “I came up with seven
that I thought were definitely literary
magazine material, and then I have been
waiting on some of the artwork to make
that final decision of the top five because
I want them both to be quality pieces to
go in Vector.”
Many of the students were
excited about their characters being
recreated by artists. Senior Lynzi Dykstra
said, “I haven’t seen the finished product
yet, but the last time I saw the artwork, it
looked gorgeous. The background was
beautiful, and the beginning of the god’s
figure looked just how I imagined
them—a bit ominous looking.”
Each student had a sheet to fill
out with different aspects of their deity,
which the artists used as inspiration for
their artworks. Krall was excited about
the creativity her students had been
putting into their descriptions, saying “I
tell you, the physical descriptions that
some of these people came up with is,
they’re amazing. Just choosing certain
qualities and certain symbols and the way
they want them to look, I mean, these
students were extremely creative and
very imaginative.”
As for the next time that
Artwork by
Isabel
Pedersen
Mythical
God
“Ryion”
Created by
Bradyn
Sexton
I studied Elementary Education at
William Penn.
Tell us about your past teaching
experience.
I previously worked as a paraeducator
at the WBMS.
Tell us about your family. Where are
you from?
I have a younger brother who is a
sophomore here. I also have a younger
sister who graduated from West Branch
last year. My mom is the library
associate at the middle school.
Why did you decide to come to West
Branch?
I really enjoyed working here as a para.
The staff and students I got to work
with were amazing, so I knew when I
became a teacher I wanted to stay in the
district.
What are you looking forward to
most at West Branch?
Getting to know all of the students.
What is your favorite food?
Anything with chocolate!
What are your hobbies?
I like to read, spend time with family, or
play with my dog.
Ashlynne Nash
Junior Junior
Co-Editor-in-Chief Co-Photo-Editor-in-Chief
Resident Artist Page Designer: P. 5
Writer Writer
Caleb Pedersen
Sophomore Senior Junior
Page Designer: P. 4 Co-Page Designer: P. 8 Co-Page Designer: P. 8
Writer Writer Writer
The Bear Staff Box
THE BEAR
Contact: 319-643-7219 ext. 324
900 W. Main St., West Branch, IA 52358
thebear@west-branch.k12.ia.us
All Staff Box Photos by Kaylee Kettler & Brooklyn Nash
Mythology is offered as a class (every
other year opposite creative writing),
Krall wants to bring more of a focus to
less widely-known mythologies, saying
“I mean, I had a lot of things planned and
a lot of things went well, but I need to
touch base on gods other than just Greek
and Roman. I want to get more into the
Egyptian, Mayan, and Celtic gods
because we didn’t do enough with
those.”
Gallagher would also like to
incorporate more information into her
class but was satisfied with how the
projects turned out. She said, “I’m going
to change a few things because I’ve read
a few more books since then about fairy
tales that I want to incorporate into the
class, but primarily, the way that we did
the projects and things, I’m going to keep
the same.”
She would also like to get the
chance to take the class to a play if a
fairytale-themed production comes
nearby.
The students of both classes
expressed their enjoyment of the classes,
recommending others to give them a try.
“I think it is really fun and a
break from the normal core classes you
have to take to learn about something that
is really interesting,” said Mythology
student Cameron Gingerich.
Make sure to look out for these
class’s works to be published in the
inaugural edition of Vector, coming out
in late March.
All Art Photos by Karina Krall
Artwork by
Rhiannon
Fletcher
Mythical
Goddess
“Melantasma”
also Created by
Rhiannon
Fletcher
Grant Meth
Photos by Claire Jarrett
Devin
Kazlauskas
Claire Jarrett Brooklyn Nash
Junior Sophomore
Co-Photo-Editor-in-Chief Co-Photo-Editor-in-Chief
Page Designer: P. 7 Page Designer: P. 9
Writer Writer
Emily Coleman
Junior
Writer