Math teacher and 2020 class sponsor Sara Doerhoefer announced to math classes she will not be returning for the 2019-20 school year. Doerhoefer said she will be moving to Wichita to teach at Maize South High School.

Despite initially not wanting to be involved with student government, Doerhoefer said it has been a ‘welcoming surprise’ to work with StuGo.

“Honestly, when I started here at Northwest it wasn’t something I was interested in doing,” Doerhoefer said. “But then the opportunity came to me and it’s something I really enjoyed. It’s a group of kids that I wouldn’t of otherwise been with or spent any time with in the classroom, so it’s fun to get to spend time outside of school doing things with them.”

With Doerhoefer leaving, principal Amy Pressly said it might be hard to find a replacement due to the fact the sponsor would be only for the senior class.

“We’ve started looking,” Pressly said. “We’ll continue to look, see if somebody will step up and say ‘I’ll be the sponsor for that class,’ and it’s hard when it’s just the senior group, but hopefully somebody on the staff will be able to step up and do that.”

Working with Doerhoefer for the past four years, fellow math teacher and close friend Teresa Hogan said Northwest will be losing someone dedicated to being an excellent teacher.

“[We’re] losing an excellent teacher,” Hogan said. “Someone who cares about kids. [We’re] losing somebody with spunk, fire and personality plus she’s a great math teacher and she cares about her students a lot.”

Serving as the varsity assistant softball coach for the past four years, Doerhoefer has been an integral part of Husky softball, head coach Kim White said.

“Working with her is awesome just because she is so knowledgeable about softball and she always has the best interest of our players at heart,” White said. “She gives everything she has whether it’s helping with our scouting, whether its drills or practice, or calling pitches during a game, every aspect of what coach Doerhoefer brings to the softball program is really important to us.”

Junior Paige Kuluva, a student of Doerhoefer, knows whenever she’s feeling down she knows she can talk to Doerhoefer.

“I’ve gotten really close to her,” Kuluva said. “She’s one of those teachers where if I’m having a bad day, I can go to her and talk to her about anything.”

Doerhoefer said the people are what make Northwest so special.

“I love the people,” Doerhoefer said. “The kids are the best. The parents and the students at this building care so much and everybody just loves this place and it’s amazing.”