Kimball is originally from Waterloo, Iowa with a desire to branch out. She graduated from a Catholic high school with a graduating class of only 37 people, very small compared to East High School.
“I never envisioned myself ending up at a place this big, and in a city like this, but here we are, and I’m loving it,” Kimball said.
Kimball attended Iowa State University as an active diver on the women’s swimming and diving team. Her original major was nutrition and dietetics but after thoughtful consideration she realized her passion was in the English education field. While this was not in her original plan, Kimball wanted to align her major with what she truly enjoys. As she made the switch to English and education her sophomore year.
Outside of school, Kimball has enjoyed running, spending time with her two cats, Elliot and Munch, and the relaxation of yoga while the chaos of planning her August wedding weighs deeply in her mind.
While Kimball did branch away from home to pursue her dreams, her family is still a priority. While Kimball does not go home often, she sees her family a lot, whether it is making the trip to see each other wherever her siblings are to where her mom and dad are, the effort remains strong as well as the relationship.
Kimball’s aunts and grandmother are all teachers in the Independence area. But when asked who her influenced her most in becoming a teacher, Kimball quickly mentioned her mom. Kimball’s mom was a professor at Wartburg for a time before switching to University of Iowa in the college of physical therapy.
“She is the smartest woman I know, and I remember when I was younger, she would let me go into her college classroom and I would just sit at the back of the lecture hall and just watching her teach and watching the students in her classroom just engage with her so intensely, I was like, oh, my gosh. That’s amazing, and I want to do that,” Kimball said.
Out of all the schools she could choose from, she was set on teaching at East, so when a teaching position opened in the English department she applied.
“I student taught with Mrs. Johnson for eight weeks last semester, and I feel like sometimes East High gets a really bad rap. And when I came here and when I experienced and when I talked to the students and to the staff, in my mind, there was just I couldn’t fathom the fact that people think such negative things about this school. Everyone I’ve interacted with is so kind. The students care so much, they want to learn, they’re grateful that you’re here to help them, and that’s just an environment that even at my own tiny high school, I never had,” Kimball said.
As a relatively new teacher, Kimball has been adjusting very well over the last few months.
“It’s been going well. I teach sophomores, and I teach juniors. It is a very interesting spread across all my classes, but I mean, the kids who show up are beyond sweet and they want to learn, and it is a privilege to help them do that” Kimball said.
Every teacher has a teaching style, Kimball on the other hand a unique way of describing her teaching style in just three words.
“I would say open. I would say fun. And I’d also say curious. Curious because I think so many people, when they walk into an English class, they’re like, ‘Oh, there’s only one answer to everything’ and that is so not true of our subject. You need to come in here with an open mind, because as long as you can explain yourself and walk me through your thought process, anything is possible in English class, and I think that’s beautiful,” Kimball said.
The one thing Kimball hopes students take away from her class beyond subject matter is to continue to be kind and ask those questions before making the wrong judgment of something or wrongfully judge a situation.
Kimball has felt not only welcomed at East, but she also experienced a moment in teaching where she felt she was doing the right thing by choosing this career.
“I have a sophomore, I won’t name her but she is such a sweetheart. She was struggling to write this essay, I sat down with her and walked her through it. She put her pencil down, she put her hands on her desk, and she goes ‘Miss, you are just so kind. I’ve never learned like this before.’ I was like, ‘Wow’. That just solidifies that some days there’s hard days and that’s okay, but it’s moments like that you’re like, okay. I’m in the right place,” Kimball said.
When asked what was the best piece of advice she has ever been given, she mentioned how she believes everyone should be lead with empathy.
“I think something that I’ve been told over and over again, it’s just something that I carry with me as well, is just to lead with empathy. I think our culture and our current society, a lot of what we’re lacking and a lot of where problems come from is that we just don’t try to understand each other,” Kimball said.
Being a new teacher to a foreign place can be intimidating but Kimball has felt very welcomed to East High School.
“Mrs. Niemeyer is about the sweetest woman I’ve ever met. My mentor, Mrs. Connor, is phenomenal, and I’m learning so much. I mean, everyone in the North Wing is fantastic. Everyone in the English department is fantastic. Our admin is fantastic, so yes, I do feel like I’ve been welcomed,” Kimball said.
Each teacher is faced with a challenge in the classroom, but Kimball manages to take that challenge as an opportunity to adjust and adapt which can be very hard at first, especially as a new teacher, but rewarding in the end.
“There are so many different personalities just in one classroom. And I think being younger and a little bit inexperienced with the behavior management kind of things, that has been the hardest learning curve is, just figuring out how to juggle. Sometimes twenty-five different personalities in one room. But again, back to the empathy thing, I found that if you sit down and you have a conversation with someone, you can learn a lot from just a couple of minutes. So that has definitely helped mitigate some of those problems,” Kimball said.
Kimball mentioned the easiest thing as a new teacher adapting to teacher is to be kind to everyone.
“I think it is very easy just to be kind and just to lead with kindness right off the bat. I don’t think anyone in our world has ever gotten anywhere successfully by being mean and brash. And so I think, just leading with kindness is going to open a lot of doors,” Kimball said.