While Lemont has many new staff members, the most unique new member of the staff is Zach Kuipers, the new school psychologist.
While Kiupers may have gone into school majoring in Sport and Exercise Studies, he quickly found that he loved working with kids and became a psychologist.
“I really just liked working with kids and I like helping kids find out their best way through school, ” Kuipers said. “With that knowledge, I figured out what I wanted to do, which was [to] really help kids find their niche at school.”
Lemont is not far from home for Kiupers, since he grew up in Palos Heights and attended Chicago Christian High School. During his time at Trinity Christian College, Kiupers assisted with the Chicago Christian High School football team. Kiupers has not ended his football career yet, as he is going to be coaching the freshman football team.
Not only is Lemont near to Kiupers in distance, Lemont is also close to family since Kuipers’ wife also attended Lemont High School and his mother-in-law was a staff member.
Kiupers is very excited to be a part of the Lemont High School staff. For him, one of the benefits of working at Lemont is the environment.
“Looking at the overall community that this school has [and] looking at how long a lot of the staff members have been here really drew me here because it looked like a place people enjoyed working and that students actually enjoy going to school for the most part,” said Kiupers.
He is also eager to involve himself with the Lemont community and extracurriculars and hopes to become a resource for students.
“For my first year, I really want to be involved in this school [and] make sure that most students get to know me or know my name [or] at least and know who I am and…what I offer at this school, ” Kuipers said.
