This year BV has gained a new member of the family. This new addition to the Tiger crew is Kansas City native Andrew Hovis.

Hovis is currently the student teacher for social studies teacher Brian Mowry. Hovis is on his fourth and final semester of student teaching, a required component of his undergraduate.

“I am student teaching to get my degree in teaching history from 7th through 12th grade,” Hovis said. “I go to K-State, and part of their setup program is doing a semester of student teaching,”

Hovis described the process for pairing college students with current teachers.

“I didn’t get to choose my specific teacher, but I’m ecstatic that I got put with Mr. Mowry,” Hovis said. “This is my fourth school, and I’ve never been anywhere else like it. Between him, his teaching style, the students, everything is great about it. The reason I got put with him is because I’m a history major.”

Hovis said the reason he chose to pursue history was because it provided a captivating story, and he enjoyed finding the various patterns and links throughout history.

Hovis said his favorite historical subject is ancient civilizations, including Egypt, Athens and Mesopotamia.

Hovis’ inspiration for wanting to teach came from the adults in his life.

“I come from a pretty big family of teachers,” Hovis said. “My mom’s a teacher, both of her parents were teachers, my dad’s dad was a teacher. I’ve been blessed in my life to have a lot of great teachers from both my family and growing up. They seem like happy people. They go to work, each day it’s something new, you get to have a lot of different interactions with different people, they’re making a positive difference and I like the aspect of flexibility.”

Hovis believes his experience at BV stands out compared to his student teaching at previous schools.

“The students here are different,” Hovis said. “They care more, they’re nice, cool, including of everybody, and I think that has been the most enjoyable experience for me at Blue Valley.”

Hovis shared his plans for engaging with students who may struggle in his future classrooms.

“One thing that is true for me, and I think is true for other students, is that the student that won’t work doesn’t have the proper motivation, or they have anxiety about not understanding concepts,” Hovis said. “When I was in high school, I was the type of student that would have to work very hard to get low Bs and high Cs. Back then, I would consider myself not smart. But going through college and meeting people in the professional world, I realized that there’s way more to life and especially way more to teaching and school than just being able to turn your homework in or understanding this concept.

Hovis said he wants to aim for improvements when he gets his own classroom.

“I think whatever class I want to be a part of I want the main focus to be, ‘How do I grow as a positive individual for myself and for society and what can I do to better myself as a person and what can I do to help other people?’” he said.

Overall, Hovis said he is happy to be at BV.

“I feel very lucky to have been placed here and have had an awesome experience,” he said. “I really like the administration, the teachers, the students, and I feel blessed to have this opportunity.”