With summer in the rear view mirror and the new school year in full swing, new members of the St. Dominic community are flooding in. There are over 200 new students, along with many new faculty and staff members and an almost completely new math department.

Mr. Lewis

After taking a year off from teaching, Mr. Lewis has decided to start back up teaching math at St. Dominic.

“Math is a tool. I’m okay with math. Math and I are on speaking terms, but it’s not like we are best buds. I do enjoy applying math however,” said Lewis.

Mr. Lewis has an incredibly infectious personality. His hobbies include complicated board games and doing Irish accents. In high school, Mr. Lewis participated in performing arts, choir and he sprinted for track and field. Someday Mr. Lewis hopes to have a chinchilla because, according to him, they are so fluffy. Mr. Lewis has been married to his wife Rachel for one year and eight months, and over the summer he got to meet his new nephew Robbie.

Mrs. Luedeke

Mrs. Luedeke has been teaching for 29 years in total with the majority of that time being the 21 years she spent at Kennedy High School. She has a husband, two kids and a lovely little granddaughter. She adores the St. Louis Cardinals and Charlie Brown, which is obvious because her classroom is decked out in Charlie Brown memorabilia. In high school she was an intense soccer player.

“I used to slide tackle like nobody else,” said Mrs. Luedeke.

Students be careful, or you may end up being a victim of one of her devastating slide tackle maneuvers. Even if you do get slide tackled, Mrs. Luedeke would probably make you some of her world famous chocolate chip cookies to make it up to you. Maybe getting slide tackled wouldn’t be that bad after all.

Mr. Spitz

Mr. Spitz has been teaching for a many years, and he spent the majority of his career at Orchard Farm High School. He has been married 39 years to his wife Javonne and together they have two kids, two granddaughters and a cat named Casey. Mr. Spitz once taught John Daly, a professional golfer, at Helias High School. Mr. Spitz is so happy that he gets the chance to continue his career at St. Dominic.

“I’m excited to be part of a tremendous group of people and a high quality institution. It is very humbling,” said Spitz.

It is so nice to have someone like Mr. Spitz, who has so much teaching experience, at St. Dominic.

Ms. Carter

Ms. Carter is from St. Peters, but she just moved back to the area after teaching in Houston, Texas. Even though she teaches math, she has a degree in mining engineering from Missouri S&T. Ms. Carter is full of wonderful talents, one of which is the ability to bend her thumb all the way back. She has a wiener dog named PJ, whom she adores. Ms. Carter previously taught at a public school, so she is so excited about the opportunity to be at a religious school.

“It has been really nice to have prayer included in the day. I have been able to go say the rosary in the chapel. It is such a good way to ground and center your day,” said Carter.

Ms. Carter is such an incredible person, so next time you see her don’t be afraid to say hello.

It is such a blessing to have all these wonderful new teachers. They all have different personalities and talents, which are sure to make the St. Dominic experience even better than it already is.