CES NEWS
Concordia Elementary School Newsletter
Welcome To CES!
Meet Our New Teachers and Staff!
Megan James - Kindergarten
Emily Erkenbrack - 1st Grade
Kinsey Cox - 3rd Grade
Hello all!
My name is Kinsey Cox and I am one of the new third grade teachers this year at CES. I am so excited to get this school year started!
I grew up on a farm west of Clay Center, Kansas and graduated from Clay Center Community High School. I then attended and graduated from Kansas State University with my bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education.
I have been married to my awesome husband, Trevor Cox, for almost two years. Some things that I like to do outside of school include baking, being outside, and reading a good book.
Jill Hummel - 3rd Grade
Meg Clark - 4th Grade
JoDee Rothfuss - Technology Instructor
Krystal Breese - Administration
Kelsey Abitz - Counselor
My name is Kelsey Abitz. I am married and have three children. I was born and raised in Concordia, Kansas. After college I moved to Overland Park, Kansas and taught and then attained my Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology. After getting married and having children, my husband and I wanted to move back to Concordia to raise our children. Since being back in Concordia, I have been teaching at Cloud County Community College.
I will be a counselor at the elementary school. I am so excited and so very grateful for this opportunity and to be a part of the USD 333 district and look forward to working with the students!
Samantha Kraft - CCDC
Hello! My name is Samantha Kraft and I will be the new CCDC/preschool special education teacher at Concordia Elementary Schools. The previous district that I worked for was Topeka Public Schools. I was there for three years. This is my 5th year as a teacher and 12th year in education. My husband Faron and I have three children Teron, 11, Tristion, 9 and Tera 4. I graduated from Quinter High School and continued on to Bethany College. Currently, I am working on my Graduate degree at FHSU with a Masters in Special Education and will be graduating this winter. I love football and love being a football coach's wife. In my spare time I love to read.
Brandi Duskie - School Psychologist
Krystin Will - KRR Coordinator
School Marathon is Back!
Welcome back to school! It’s going to be another great and exciting school year. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Rick Haden and I’m the PE/Health teacher at Concordia Elementary School. It is a great honor and privilege to work in this wonderful district of USD #333 and also to work with your children.
One of the big events at the beginning of the school year your child has an opportunity to participate in is the School Marathon. This will be our 6th year of having the marathon. The CES School Marathon is scheduled to begin Monday, August 20th and finish Friday, September 28th. What is school marathon you ask? School Marathon is a full 26.2 mile marathon that is available for ALL Concordia Elementary school children in grades 1 – 4. The running of the marathon will be accomplished by running one mile at a time Monday through Friday in just over a 6-week period. The marathon course will be run on the East side of the school building and the participants will have from 7:20 AM – 8:00 AM to complete their daily mile. As each mini-marathoner completes each 5-miles, they will receive an incentive to encourage them to keep on going until they complete all 26.2 miles When we run our final mile, we will have a big school marathon finale to celebrate the success of the students for reaching this lofty goal.
As you look at the attached calendar, please note there are different special days planned for the Marathon. These are always a lot of fun and the kids look forward to these days. On August 31st, CES mini-marathoners will get the opportunity to run their mile for the day on the new CJSHS track. This is family day, so all family members are also invited to run with their child. On this day, there will be no morning run. Instead, we will run our mile from 4:00-4:30 at the CJSHS track.
Through the health education these students receive along with participating in the School Marathon program, this experience allows the students at CES to learn at an early age ways to have an active, healthy lifestyle, have fun and make great friendships. If you would like more information about the School Marathon program or would like to volunteer and help out with the program, feel free to call me at Concordia Elementary School (785-243-8853) or email me at rick.haden@usd333.com
I am looking forward to working with your children and hope to see many of the students of CES running the School Marathon!