Raymond Central Public Schools -

Another staff spotlight for this week is Mr. Staroscik! He is originally from Columbus, NE, and got his teaching degree in Natural Sciences from UNL in 2012. He has a Master's in STEM education with a Chemistry endorsement as well. While he was in high school, he played football and soccer. He was also in journalism and was an editor for the school newspaper! Mr. Staroscik has had the opportunity to teach in all types of schools and is happy to be in the smaller school setting here at Raymond Central. His first teaching job was in Nebraska City for 3 years. From there, he spent 2 years teaching with United State Peace Corps and lived and worked at a small school in the village of Mpungu Vlei in the African country of Namibia. It's a cool little place on the edge of the Kalahari desert. He also has lived very close to the world-famous Okavango River and has spent many hot afternoons swimming in its cool waters and relaxing on its sandy banks.  While in Mpungu, he taught English and Science to 8th and 9th graders but their ages were anywhere from 13 to 24, all in the same class! Mr. Staroscik has had huge classes, sometimes up to 60 students! Overall, he really enjoyed that experience and the lessons he learned living in a place completely different than your own. He met my future wife on my plane ride leaving Africa. He lived in Salt Lake City for a year before relocating to Denver where he taught for the last 4 years. Mr. Staroscik worked in an urban school with big classes. While in Denver, his future wife from the plane ride was in graduate school for school counseling. She recently completed her degree and they got married on December 31st, 2021 during a blizzard that dumped 12 inches of snow all throughout the night. He said it was pretty cool actually, but many of their guests couldn't make it and there was a Covid surge so even more guests couldn't make it because of that. They decided to move to Nebraska to be closer to his family! Mr. Staroscik’s wife is a school counselor at LPS and they live in Lincoln with their two cats Flora and Izzy. In his free time, he enjoys gardening flowers and vegetable gardens. He also likes to have plants in his house over the winter. He likes to read, watch Husker sports and go on long walks with his wife! Mr. Staroscik said the reason why he got into the teaching field was that science is a process of discovering the truth. He enjoys learning the truth about how the world works! He also enjoys being around people and generally, kids are the most exciting, creative people to be around! His favorite food is his mother’s homemade Spaghetti Bolognese! Mr. Staroscik really enjoys teaching chemistry! He said it is a huge step up from a normal science class and the details of how atoms and molecules make up matter are very interesting! If he wrote a book about his job life, he would title it “A Teacher’s Guide to the Galaxy: A Story About a man, the American West, and the Theory of Relativity”. His partner and crime staff member would definitely be Mrs. Aylward! They both share an extreme passion for chemistry and since their rooms are attached, they get to talk about it often! Finally, he would travel to Australia to see the deserts, rainforests, and the Great Barrier Reef! Thank you Mr. Staroscik for everything you do for Raymond Central!