The Liberty High English Department is turning the page this 2025-2026 school year with the addition of two new teachers eager to inspire students through reading and writing.
Nicole Donnenwerth
Nicole Donnenwerth (she/her) is excited to start her journey at Liberty after years of experience in another district.
“[This] is my nineteenth year of teaching, and I taught for eighteen years at a district in Hampton, Iowa. I taught in the same classroom for all of those eighteen years, so it was really hard for me to leave, but I am excited to be at Liberty,” Donnenwerth said.
At Liberty, Donnenwerth teaches English 10 and Advanced Placement Language and Composition. She is especially looking forward to her first year teaching AP Lang and helping students reach their full potential.
“[This] is the first year I’m teaching AP, so I have really, really high hopes and goals for my AP students when it comes time to take that AP test in May,” Donnenwerth said.
One of her favorite aspects of joining Liberty is the opportunity to collaborate with other English teachers, something she did not have in her previous school.
“I really love that there are several teachers who teach English 10, and that’s not something that I’m used to. It’s really fun and really awesome to be able to collaborate with other teachers who are teaching the same thing, because we can build on all of our strengths and offer each other ideas,” Donnenwerth said.
Donnenwerth describes her teaching style as exciting. She values energy and enthusiasm in a productive class environment.
“I think kids deserve to have a teacher that’s excited to have them in their classroom, and so I really try to make sure that kids know that whether it’s a topic or a concept or just having them in my room, that I’m excited that they’re there,” Donnenwerth said.
To keep students engaged, she also focuses on offering a variety of ways to interact with the material.
“Just trying to give kids lots of different ways in which they interact with the materials. So whether it’s reading as a group or in small groups or independently, or just giving them lots of different options and lots of different ways to interact with materials,” Donnenwerth said.
As Liberty continues to grow, Donnenwerth will help shape a welcoming environment for students to learn and thrive.
“No matter what the message is, it always goes over better when it’s presented with kindness. So be kind,” Donnenwerth said.
Jonathan Perez
Jonathan Perez (he/him) is another new addition to Liberty’s English department. Perez teaches English 9 and S.T.A.R.S., a reading support class that helps students build stronger skills.
Perez recently graduated from the University of Iowa and completed his student teaching in Riverside before joining Liberty’s English department.
“It took a while to get used to adulting, but it’s good now,” Perez said.
His path to teaching was unplanned from the start.
“I started off [doing a] totally different major, and then I started as a tutor during freshman year, and it’s like, hey, I kind of like this. I liked English, so I guess it just happened,” Perez said.
When it came to choosing Liberty, the welcoming atmosphere stood out to Perez, unlike other schools he interviewed with.
“Compared to other places that I interviewed at, I’d say it’s definitely more welcoming and [there are] a lot more people involved with the interview process who were actually in the department, not just [administration], so it’s a different vibe,” Perez said.
That sense of community extends beyond the hiring process. In addition, Perez also enjoys the close-knit community between English teachers.
“The English department is really welcoming. We all eat lunch together every day, and from what I’ve heard from other teacher friends, that’s pretty rare,” said Perez.
Being a first-year teacher can be challenging, but Perez stays grounded by taking it “one day at a time.”
“I feel like it’s been decent so far. Just keep on going with that mindset,” Perez said.
Perez’s goal for students is to understand that English class is useful beyond just the classroom.
“You just need to know how to be able to analyze questions in science. You learn those skills in English. How do you do basic reasoning, and also like how to analyze where your data is coming from,” Perez said.
To keep reading interesting, Perez tries to bring in books that appeal to different students, especially ones who might not be into traditional novels. I’ve tried buying different types of books… So I noticed a lot of the boys in one of my classes would not read any other books; it was graphic novels. So I bought a lot of those, some manga books. And trying to pick out things that I know interest them,” Perez said.
With Perez’s fresh ideas, Liberty’s English Department is in good hands as it continues to grow.
