By Daniel Zhang
Hugo High School
Co-Editor

The featured teacher for this week is Matthew Allen. Allen currently teaches English II and English III at Hugo High School. He is married to Kelsi Kiper. Kiper is currently a substitute teacher at Hugo High School. Both Allen and Kiper said they love teaching. Allen said he believes that teaching is his calling and loves working at Hugo High School.
Allen is a new teacher and holds a degree in English literature. He has taught prior to his current position, but this is his first English course. Allen heard about an opening for a teaching position at Hugo High School, was interviewed and given the job on the spot, he said. He loves his job and would like to continue for years to come.
Allen has been through a number of adventures. These adventures include hiking and living life in Spain. Allen has also been primitive camping, or surviving in the wild. Spending a lot of time in Spain, his first visit was through a foreign exchange program the summer of his high school sophomore year.
“I love the Spanish culture,” Allen said.
Allen said he hopes to go on a future trip.
“I have been thirsting for that experience,”he said.
He returned to Spain once again after college in May 2007 and stayed until November of the same year.
Allen volunteered through an organization called World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms or WWOOF. Through WWOOF, he had to make it to Spain with little money. All together it cost Allen about $300 to go transatlantic. Although Allen likes to garden, he didn’t want to work on a farm. By making the contact to the right people in Madrid, he was able to get a volunteer job gardening. During Allen’s trip, he also worked as a waiter in a teashop and as a musician. He is mainly a percussionist, and he also plays a little guitar and loves to write music.
Allen is an interesting person and it only took a brief interview to find that out. He is a new face to Hugo High School and is working to make a positive impact on his students. Allen is one of the many teaching staff at the high school teaching effectively, and that is why he this week’s Featured Teacher.