From Students to Teachers

Many of the staff at Lakeland also graduated and earned their diploma at Lakeland High School. Some of the teachers say the school has drastically changed.

Coach Tim Kiefer claims, “the school was a lot smaller compared to now. We were a 3A school, and now we are a 4A school. We were very successful in academics and sports, which I think is still true.”

Kiefer thinks that there are a lot of similarities compared to when he was a student at Lakeland High School. Kiefer said, “I believe the teachers still care and we still have a strong academic aspect to Lakeland.

Matt Neff, the activities director at Lakeland also graduated as a Lakeland Hawk. He stated, “one of the biggest changes in the school is the building itself. We have the new gym, the entire Math hall and English hall has been added since I graduated.”

Mr. Neff also explained that there were a lot fewer kids when he attended Lakeland. He inferred, “When I went here, there were 400, close to 450 kids here, not that number has doubled. We have grown a lot.”

Both Neff and Kiefer think the Rathdrum community itself has changed significantly. Mr. Neff claimed, “the families in Rathdrum are very different now. There were a lot more kids tied to natural resources. There were a lot more farming and logging families. ”

Dustin Frank, a math teacher at Lakeland described his time as a student at Lakeland as, “it was blessful, enjoyable, and great.” He enjoyed coming to Lakeland and said it was “some of the best times of my life.”

All of the teachers agreed that they preferred their time as a student rather than being a teacher at Lakeland. Kiefer mentioned, “Looking at the same school from a student’s eyes, to a teacher’s eyes is a cool experience. I definitely love being a student at Lakeland.”

Most of the teachers that graduated from Lakeland did not plan on coming back to Lakeland to teach. Kiefer revealed, “It definitely was not in my plans. It just happened. I am definitely glad it did happen though. I enjoy teaching students whose parents I went to school with. It can be strange though because sometimes I know stories about students’ parents that they don’t even know.”

Mr. Neff commented, “Being a student gives you a lot more opportunities. Students should take advantage of the opportunities in front of them. There are so many paths a student can take, so take the opportunity and see what you can do with it.”

Some of the teachers at Lakeland have been in the student’s shoes and have decided to come back to Lakeland because they had such a good experience.