We love sharing our teacher’s stories and this week we are sharing D.J. Wagnor’s story from Heartland Community Schools. We love the attitude and compassion that D.J has for his school. These are the kind of stories we love to share!

What is your official role with Striv? Class, club, steaming responsibilities, etc.

A: I am the Instructor for Heartland Community Schools Multimedia and Technology Class.  We stream all home varsity events, as well as performances and special events to promote all the wonderful things happening at our school.  

What are some of your favorite things being a Striv/Class Intercom school?

D.J. loves finding creative ways to help students share their passions by integrating technology.

A:I really enjoy brainstorming with my students and allowing them to use their passions and interests to dictate many of our assignments. We use the technology all the time to promote Heartland and inform others as to what is going on with our school. Being a STRIV school and having the Multimedia and Technology class pushes our students to use technology to inform and tell a story about who we are.  Even though many of the students have various interests, they enjoy working together, and our goal from day one is to be successful in all that we do.

What is one short story you can share about how being a Striv School has positively impacted your community?

D.J has found that being able to share stories about their school has been able to bring together the community, and communicate that every school, no matter how small, has a story to tell.

A: Being able to promote our school and show how passionate our staff and students are about Heartland is incredible.  We are a small school, but like many small schools in Nebraska, the school is one of the main ties that hold the community together.  People enjoy watching the events we stream, and even if they cannot attend one of the events, they can either check the score or watch a recorded event that has been uploaded.  Even something as small as streaming the event in our cafeteria where we sell concessions allows visitors not to miss out and shows our commitment to success.

What is one important thing that being a Striv Teacher/Mentor has taught you personally?

Being a Striv teacher has shown D.J that teamwork  and dedication can really create something special, especially in a small classroom setting.

A: On a personal level being a Striv teacher has taught me many things.  It definitely has forced me to go far beyond my comfort zone. With having such a small class, we have students involved in many events that coincide with events we are streaming.  We all work together to ensure that the events get streamed and that teamwork is essential. I remember at the Fall Conference we hosted in October one of my students said, “we do not do a lot of things, but what we do try and do, we try and make a great product.”  That dedication has taught me to allow the students to take ownership of the products, the projects, and the events. They care about our school, and that ownership and integrity will always leave a lasting imprint on me. .

What’s one of your favorite things to do outside of the classroom?

A: Being a first-year teacher, soon to be first time father, and new homeowner kind of takes up a majority of my time.  When I do find a spare second I really enjoy reading and listening to music. During the summer I love to go fishing and taking pictures of storm clouds.

We love spotlighting our Striv teachers, and D.J is a great example of a teacher who’s dedication and compassion for his students and community has proven that it can really make a difference. We are so thankful for you D.J!