Kennedy High School has gained a new face with social studies teacher Cael Joens. It is his first year teaching at Kennedy but he is not just here to teach in the classroom. He directed Kennedy’s fall play “Picasso at the Lapin Agile.” He is also involved with getting “GSA – Gay Straight Alliance” up and running. Their first meeting was on Friday, Oct. 18.
Joens graduated from Kennedy High School in 2019 and went on to graduate from Mt. Mercy University in 2023. Now he is back at Kennedy to help shape students. His goal is to help students grow into the people they are like his teachers did to him when he went here. Joens was inspired by some of the teachers who still teach here today.
“Mr. Anderson, Mrs. Frye, Mrs. Hellweg, Mr. Tolly and Mr. Hayes, Mrs. Zwanziger, Mr. Hollander. I’m sure I’m leaving somebody out but that is a lot of them,” Joens said.
It is not just the teachers that inspired Joens to come back, he also loves acting and directing. He sees teaching and directing as the best way to use acting to do something important and help others.
“I knew that there wasn’t any steady work in becoming an actor,” Joens said. “I knew if I really wanted to perform every single day I would have to become a teacher. Because I do have to perform in a way, and I think I’m doing something more important than just acting for the sake of acting. I’m acting so I could get information across to people.”
When Joens went to Kennedy, he loved acting, doing the school shows, being a part of the speech program and show choir. So now that he is back, he was excited to take on directing the school play.
“I love it,” Joens said. “I get to work with young people who are really excited. And if they are given the right materials, they rise to the occasion. They really blow me away, and they show me all kinds of things that I didn’t know were possible, and that keeps me alive.”
When looking back, Joens thinks of the opportunities Kennedy gave its students. He wanted to help students rise and develop into the people they are willing to become.
“My favorite thing is… that Kennedy is the best at giving people opportunities, and there is a home feeling here. I think there is a welcoming atmosphere,” Joens said.
Not everything is perfect when working in American high schools. Joens doesn’t think that Kennedy is particularly guilty, but if he could change one thing about high schools in general, it would be better exploring students’ curiosities.
“I wish, if I could change one thing about American high schools, I wish that we allowed for students to challenge more things and to inquire about things that they are interested in,” Joens said. “Not so much things that they have to know, but things that they are really curious to know about, because the math, the science, the reading and the social studies are all well and good, but there is so much more to education and to knowing things than to just pass a test.”
Joens is thrilled to be a teacher in Kennedy High School, he loves the students and is ready to see what the future has in store.
“Starting grad school here soon right after we finish Picasso, and gonna come back next year and probably do the spring musical,” Joens said.
