OSMOND — Three new staff members have joined the team at Osmond Community School. They are Dante Schmit, 7-12 science; Brad Thoendel, industrial technology, and Kaitlyn Anderson, SPED. The new instructors have each provided a short biography.
Dante Schmit
I grew up in Osmond and graduated from Osmond High School.
After graduation, I went to Wayne State College and graduated with my degree in secondary mathematics and will be coming up on my fourth year of teaching. I last taught at Ord High School where I taught and coached football and wrestling for two years.
I decided to apply at Osmond Community School because I wanted to be closer to home and I take great pride in this community and town and I wanted to be a part of it again.
I just got married to my wife, Morgan, this June and I am looking forward to starting our lives together here in Osmond.
I enjoy spending time with family, golfing with friends and family, and watching Husker sports.
I have always loved Osmond and love the community here. Osmond is definitely home and I am excited to be back home!
Brad Thoendel
I will be teaching Industrial Tech 8-12.
I grew up on a farm around Ewing.
I was homeschooled until high school and went to Chambers Public School for high school.
After high school I went to Northeast Community College for building construction and worked in the field for several years after graduating. After a while I decided to go back to school and get an undergraduate in education at Wayne State College. After my first year of teaching I decided to get my masters in skilled and technical science at Wayne State College over the summers.
I will be starting my fifth year teaching here at Osmond Community School. I was previously employed at Maywood Public School which is right between North Platte and McCook. I taught there for four years and enjoyed it immensely.
During the summer of 2024, my wife and I had our son and decided that driving four hours one way to see family was getting challenging.
She let me know that I needed to find somewhere closer to the Norfolk-Ewing-Creighton-Verdigre area.
OSMOND COMMUNITY SCHOOL WELCOMES STAFF
Osmond had an opening so I applied and got the job.
I do plan on making changes, however, I plan on getting the students’ input before making any major changes to the curriculum. I would like to have an engineering class; I would also like to make woods and welding year-round classes and improve them if possible.
My mom and dad are still alive and living on the farm south of Ewing. I have six older brothers, Josh, Kevin, Jason, Ross, Jesse, and Dominic. I have a wife, Courtney, and son, Drake, who is just over a year old. My hob- bies include hiking, golfing, hunting, cooking/smoking food, bonfires, and almost anything outdoors.
I do not live in Osmond. We wanted to live here, however, we were unable to get a house in Osmond and were able to get a house in Creighton. I have good first impressions of Osmond.
Everyone has been friendly and are willing to help if I ask for it.
Kaitlyn Anderson
I will be teaching Special Education and helping with the Student Council. I grew up in Norfolk, and graduated from Norfolk Public High School. I have an associate’s degree from Northeast Community College and a K-12 Special Education generalist degree from Wayne State College.
I worked as a life skills teacher for ESU-8 for two and a half years before working at Osmond. Before that I had various jobs working with children from working in a church, being a paraprofessional at a school, to being a summer camp counselor.
All my favorite practicum, student teaching, and teaching experiences have been at smaller schools. I love the community at Osmond, and once I interviewed here, I knew this would be the right fit for me!
I am planning on adapting my teaching to whatever my students’ needs are. I believe that each student deserves a teacher who knows their learning styles and needs and works with them to continue growth.
I live in Norfolk. My husband’s name is Colton Anderson, and he is an online E-Sports coach. We are expecting our first child in December.
I am a big reader; I love escaping into a fantasy book. I also love going to a thrift store (maybe a little too much). I enjoy quality time with my family and friends. I am definitely a cat person, and love time at home with my husband and two cats. Colton and I love to hang out at home doing random craft projects together.
I am very excited about working at Osmond! I look forward to help ing students take ownership of their learning. I also am excited for the welcoming community that I have seen so far!
