By Mackenzie Armstead | staff writer
Following the departure of an assistant principal, there is now a new addition to the faculty this year, who may actually be a familiar face for some.
“I love Johnson high school. I taught here about three years [ago]. I left and went to Bradley [middle school], but one of my goals was to get back to Johnson,” assistant principal Steven Berg said. “I am excited to be here and I’m loving every minute of it.”
Berg has been working in education for almost 20 years now, and has taught at several middle schools and high schools. He also helped start various organizations and courses that assist students with pursuing their educational careers after high school.
“I started teaching in 1997 at Krueger middle school and I’ve worked in special education, and coaching, and regular classroom settings. And I started the AVID program at Krueger, where you get kids ready for college,” Berg said. “I went to Bush middle school and taught there and then I came to Johnson for three years. After I left here I was an assistant principal for two years at Bradley middle school and Lopez, being there for a half year, before I came here.”
Under his new position, Berg went on to say how he has a multitude of duties, ranging from communicating with students to supporting the school’s athletic teams.
“We have a lot of responsibilities. Everything from making sure the school is safe and everything is running right, talking to kids, helping out with issues, to making sure they get enough credits, to going and covering football games. It’s kind of one of those never ending jobs but that’s what I like about it,” Berg said.
Despite having taught here a few years ago, adjusting from a middle school can be a difficult process.
“The biggest challenge for me is that I’m coming from a middle school of 1,200 kids to a high school of 3,000 kids, so just the number of kids that are here and the number of kids in the hallway and the number of kids at lunch- it’s just bigger,” Berg said. “Having taught here before I knew what it was like and everything. I know the kids are good, so I’m excited to be here but the size of it can be overwhelming at times.”
Even though adjusting to the size may not be the easiest thing, Berg still remembers some of his favorite things about working at Johnson.
“My favorite things are the teachers that are here…I love the kids when I taught them here. I’ve had good relationships with teachers, so I was always looking forward to getting back to working with some teachers that I knew before, and going to events. Going to football games and volleyball games, and basketball games – those are some of my favorite things about Johnson,” Berg said.