Despite being a first-year teacher at Miege, freshman English teacher Janie Woods said she has already found a home with her students. 

Prior to teaching at Miege, Woods taught at Holy Cross Catholic School, St. Gabriel’s Catholic School, Visitation Catholic School and Harper Grove Public school. 

“Out of the four different schools I’ve worked at, this seems the most like a family to me with the way the teachers support each other,” Woods said. “Even though we have a large faculty and staff, I feel like if I had a problem that any teacher or staff member would be able to help.”

Teaching in a Catholic school wasn’t always a first priority for Woods, however.

“After I had kids is when I felt the calling to teach in a Catholic school,” Woods said.

What is even more important to Woods is incorporating Catholic values into her teaching routine.

“I start every class period with a prayer that goes along with the liturgical year,” Woods said. “I also look for prayers within the book that I can align with the book I’m teaching.”

While teaching the freshmen class, Woods has found that the class and she share a lot of similar experiences with being new in the building.

“I had some trouble getting used to the building and just getting used to just being in a larger space because the grade school I came from was a lot smaller than this,” Woods said. “I assume that many freshmen also came from smaller buildings.”

Woods discovered her passion for teaching while attending school at K-State and UMKC.

 “I got my first degree in theater, and I did a lot of children’s theater,” Woods said. “So I would do after school programs with kids, and teach them theater and whatnot, that’s when I realized that I like teaching kids.”

Outside of teaching Woods said that she likes to garden, cook, read, spend time with her family and go out to dinner.

Woods said she has received a warm welcome from the Miege community. 

“Mrs. Wingate has been very helpful to me and Mrs. Hurlbert has been very helpful to me,” Woods said. “Mrs. Hafey as well, I taught with her previously, they’ve all been very supportive and helpful with any questions I have.”

Woods will be staying for another year to enjoy the Miege traditions.

“I have really enjoyed the herd competitions, and watching the excitement that students have and the support they give each other on their faith family teams and in their hearts,” Woods said.