St. Ignatius welcomes new AD, teachers
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ST. IGNATIUS — The St. Ignatius school district has added several new teachers to its family for the 2012-13 school year.
Kristen Hawkaluk
Kristen Hawkaluk teaches literacy and math for kindergarten-through-second grade in St. Ignatius Elementary School. Originally from Havre, she moved to the valley in 2005 and taught first grade for seven years in Charlo.
A University of Montana graduate, she has a husband and son. While she enjoys kayaking, reading, gardening, camping, traveling, eating and exercising, her favorite thing to do is play with her son.
“The best part of teaching is watching students grow and change throughout the year,” she said. “Seeing them develop as a result of their hard work and mine makes every day worthwhile.”
Marc Cutler
St. Ignatius’ new elementary physical education teacher and elementary instructional facilitator Marc Culter is not only a historian, but a humorist as well. He says he’s from Butte, America, (in deference to the signs Irish immigrants wore during their journey to Montana) and taught all subjects in the sixth grade last year in Absarokee, Mont.
Cutler graduated from Butte High School and attended the University of Montana Western.
Hailing from a family of teachers, both of Cutler’s parents are retired educators from the Butte School District with a combined 68-years teaching experience. His sister, brother-in-law, brother, and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins are teachers.
“People say teaching is in the Cutler blood,” he said.
Cutler says one of his goals is to travel to all 50 states. He’s been to 30 and loves to ride his bike, play tennis and swim.
“My favorite aspect of teaching is the children. Every day is different, which I love. I’ve also made some lifelong friends with people I’ve taught with,” Cutler said.
Rich Ferris
Rich Ferris is the new athletic director in St. Ignatius.
A University of Montana Western alumni, Ferris coached at Western for 11 years and was the head coach for three. His wife teaches physical education in the St. Ignatius school district.
He enjoys fishing with his family and his favorite aspect of teaching is understanding the needs of his students by gaining a greater understanding of where their confusion lies, clarifying that, and helping them to work through it.
“The goal is to enhance the athletes and programs enough to where they can be competitive while making it an enjoyable activity for students to be a part of,” he said.
