By Beth Clifford
Online Managing Editor
Today, we share with you our second post of “Knight Knewcomers,” a news feature series that covers our new teachers at Prospect High School this year. Stay tuned later this week for the final two profiles on the new foreign language teachers!
John Joseph
From Berwyn, Illinois, comes another new physical education teacher for Prospect, John Joseph.
Joseph, although new to Prospect, is not new to the educational world. For the past ten years, he was teaching at Heritage Middle School in Berwyn, Illinois, as a physical education teacher. He got his degree at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, where he also wrestled competitively.
Joseph is excited to be at Prospect, especially with a whole new curriculum for physical education put in place. Although he did not help construct the new set-up, he believes it will be very effective in allowing kids to have fun while also getting in their daily exercise. He is also enjoying getting to know his new students and fellow staff.
“[Prospect] is very student-oriented,” Joseph said. “It’s a lot looser of an atmosphere, which gives the students more of an opportunity to explore for themselves, learn, and get ready to move forward to the next step of their life.”
Like new teacher Krystina Leazer, Joseph has been an athlete all of his life. Throughout his high school years, at some point he played football, baseball, ran track, and also wrestled. “[In high school] I was that guy that went with the flow,” Joseph said. “I was a leader within the sports, and I had a ton of fun.”
This strong background in athletics drives his passion for coaching. Currently at Prospect, he is assisting at the freshman level for both the wrestling and football programs. Joseph looks to continue coaching in the future at Prospect.
Outside of school, Joseph comes home to his wife and family. He has a 16-month-old daughter named Lux and a newborn daughter named Lennux. Tragically, Joseph and his wife lost their first son named Maddux to cancer two years ago. Today, Maddux would have been four.
When I commented on the uniqueness of his children’s names, he laughed. “Well they have to be different,” Joseph said. “I’m a teacher, remember?”