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Hello, my name is Steven Schaffer and I am very excited and thankful to be back in the Westwood Community School District! I will be teaching 8th and 9th-grade science as well as middle school physical education. This next year will mark my 8th year of teaching and during that time, I have continued to further my own education which brought me back to WCSD! My first teaching position was in Special Education at Westwood, from 2016-2017, and was a great learning experience. The following school year a position in middle school physical education and a varsity head wrestling coach opened in MVAOCOU. My initial degree was in Physical education, which lead me to go that route. While there I pursued other leadership opportunities as a building leader for our middle school as well as the middle school head track coach.

I grew up in Northwest Iowa and graduated high school from MVAO then attended college at Northwestern College in Orange City for one year and then finished my degree at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City. I obtained a Bachelor's Degree in  Physical Education and a minor in Health. I also competed in the BCU Wrestling program. 

One year after graduating college I married my high school sweetheart and moved to Sloan, making it our 7th year here. During that time, we purchased a home, had two children, and my wife opened the Nested Boutique in town! My Son Odin will be in Kindergarten this year and my daughter Alina will begin 3-year-old pre-school with Mrs. Sharron. 

I am looking forward to a great school year and am grateful to once again teach at Westwood and continue to lay our roots down within this community. 

Hello! My name is Nicky Christophersen and I will be a full-time substitute for the 2023-2024 school year. I attended Iowa State University and graduated with my Communication Studies degree in 2005. This will be my first year in the classroom and I am truly looking forward to learning, growing and becoming a part of the Westwood team.

My husband and I live in Whiting with our three daughters who keep us very busy! In my free time, I enjoy reading, being outside and cheering on the Cyclones! I can't wait to start working with the students, staff and families in the Westwood community. Go Rebels!

Hello, my name is Clara Silbernagel and I will be teaching elementary special education this year.  I am originally from Sloan and graduated from Westwood.  I received my Bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa, and went on to get my Master’s Degree from Oklahoma State University.  I have been teaching for 21 years in Texas.  In addition to teaching, I am a certified Athletic Trainer and had the opportunity to work with Texas high school sports.  Prior to that I was the Assistant Athletic Trainer at Oklahoma State University where I  traveled with the football and women’s basketball teams.

My husband and I live in Sloan and have two children who are also attending Westwood.  When I am not at work you can find me  attending various sporting events, watching college football, crocheting or reading.  I am excited to return back home and be a Rebel again!

Hi! I am Lisa Dandurand. I will have the privilege to teach 5th grade this coming school year.  For the past 14 years, I taught 6th grade language arts at Dakota Valley Schools along with 7th grade language arts for 10 years. Previous to that, I was part of the team at the Woodbury County Alternative School in Sioux City.  I attended Morningside College where I earned a degree in elementary education and obtained a Master's Degree in Education.

I was recently married in June to my husband, Robert.  We enjoy spending time with our families and living life together.  Also, we enjoy rooting for our respective teams: Cyclones and Hawkeyes. Go Hawks!

I am looking forward to getting back to my roots of being part of a community. Also, I am excited to continue to grow and learn as a teacher from the strong team of educators at Westwood!

Hello! I am Kody Berg. I will be the industrial technology teacher this upcoming school year. I graduated from Westwood in 2017. I grew up working for my dad and uncle at Berg Construction which influenced me to pursue studying Construction Management at Iowa Lakes Community College in Emmetsburg, Iowa. The past four years I worked as the head maintenance director at MVAOCOU Community School District. 

My wife, Taylor Berg, and I have two beautiful daughters, Lyla and Briar. We enjoy all things sports and outdoors.  We are cheering on the Rebels as well as the Iowa Hawkeyes year round. I am excited to start my new adventure of teaching as well as continue coaching wrestling for the rebels.

It feels good to be home, Go Rebels!