JOHN SEARCH, ENGLISH TEACHER

When school is not in session, John Search can be found hiking, kayaking, or running. He usually wakes up early to exercise. Search uses nature as his gym so that he experiences the benefits of being outside and exercising simultaneously. When he is not enjoying the great outdoors, he follows Notre Dame sports through broadcast games and various blogs. Search is also involved in attending the sporting events of his daughters. In addition to outdoor adventures and sports, it may come as little surprise that the English teacher devotes some of his time to reading, although he has currently exhausted his favorite genre and is searching for a new book. Like many students and teachers, Search enjoys his breaks from school and tries to make the most of them. “I try not to think about what’s going on at school,” Search said.

LISA BARTON, SPEECH TEACHER

Even though she loves being a teacher, Lisa Barton always wanted to be a backup dancer for Britney Spears. Although she would have to pick a different artist now, it remains a plan B for her. “I’m only 43 years old, you know. It’s still an opportunity for me. It’s still my backup plan,” Barton said. Aside from her dream and backup plan, Barton repurposes furniture in her free time outside of school. “Teaching is a really social activity, so […] having a hands-on job is nice to balance that out,” Barton said. She recently sold a repurposed hutch on Sandpoint Facebook Yard Sale, and she also sells on Craigslist and other apps. “You feel like you get a good return on your time. I just started by doing little pieces of furniture that I would keep in my own house, and then I started selling it because I just had too much furniture in my house.”

TOM ALBERTSON, PRINCIPAL

Tom Albertson raises cattle and punches moose in his free time outside of school. Coming from a family of teachers, Albertson initially rejected the “family business,” but after  exploring engineering and computer science in college he decided to get a teaching degree. Ever since, he has been involved in education, but his spare time is spent tending to his family ranch, which recently celebrated its 100th year of family ownership. It was on that very ranch that he punched a moose one year when the snow was deep. “I had opened a gate and there was a moose laying right there in the path, and it got up, came at me, and the only thing I could do was punch it in the nose and then run up a big snowbank,” Albertson said. “I startled it as much as it startled me, so it was just an instinct that it came at me and that I punched it in the nose.”