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Prep News
Volume 88, Issue 01
Ferguson joins faculty in Social
Studies Department
NEW FACULTY
August 25, 2023
AMDG
BY Otto Reitenbach, Theo
Agniel
Core Staff, Staff
The start of a new school year
brings a host of new faces to
St. Louis U. High including Sean
Ferguson, who will be joining
the Social Studies Department.
Jesuit education has been
a major part of Ferguson’s life:
he attended Regis Jesuit High
School in Denver and then went
to college at St. Louis University.
He also taught at Jesuit High
School of New Orleans as a Jesuit
resident and most recently
at the St. Louis Archdiocesan
high school Rosati-Kain.
“I think that teaching, particularly
in Catholic schools,
we have a push to not only be
a good student, but to learn
and work to be a good person.
And I really enjoy being a part
of that process for young men
and women,” said Ferguson. “I
think it’s a really inspiring place
Lori West.
Herbig '12 joins alumni teachers in Social Studies
BY Billy Albus
Core Staff
With the recent vacancy
in the AP Psychology
role, Sam Herbig enters the
ranks of alumni who are
teaching at SLUH. Having
graduated in 2012, Herbig
returns to SLUH with a
broad swath of wisdom and
experience under his belt.
Herbig will be teaching
AP Psychology, filling the
vacancy that Tom Kickham
left behind. Kickham first introduced
Herbig to the field
of Psychology; Herbig was
a student in Kickham’s first
ever AP Psychology class at
SLUH, when Herbig had his
first encounter with psychology.
Herbig has worked in
the psychology field since
his college days, where he
attended the University of
Tulsa.
“During college, I worked
to be trying to form the best version
of ourselves and live up to
the potential that we set up for
ourselves and identify that.”
At Rosati, Ferguson taught
a wide variety of social studies
classes. At SLUH, he is currently
teaching AP World History
and AP US History.
“I taught our Intro to American
Politics, Comparative Politics,
and I taught world history.
I also wrote a couple of classes.
We wrote a cultural competency
class that we helped to teach and
then a course called Women,
Race, and Society which was
a women and gender studies
class but also an examination of
women’s history in the last 100
years,” said Ferguson.
He is hoping to engage in
many of the same extracurricular
activities that he helped run
at Rosati-Kain.
“At Rosati, I coached tennis
and lacrosse but I would love to
get involved with either of those
on an unpaid basis as a laboratory
assistant. We worked
in a lab and we studied pain,
how people process it. We
studied questions like, ‘How
do people process it, what
are the factors, and how can
we help people feel better,’”
said Herbig.
Herbig graduated from
the University of Tulsa with a
double major in Psychology
and Religion. He accredits
his faith formation and foundation
to his time at SLUH.
“I was growing in my
faith at the time I chose
my major and developed a
strong faith and love for theology,
much of which I got
from SLUH,” said Herbig.
Upon graduating from
Tulsa, Herbig worked as a
theology teacher at Regis
Jesuit after joining the Alum
Service Corps. Following his
time at Regis, Herbig took up
an administrative role at the
College Church on the SLU
programs here at SLUH,” said
Ferguson.
Along with tennis and lacrosse,
he is particularly excited
about SLUH’s successful rugby
program.
“I played rugby back at Regis
High and then also for St.
Louis University. So I’d love to
be a part of that here as well,”
said Ferguson.
Ferguson has experienced
SLUH previously, when he was a
long-term sub for former SLUH
social studies teacher Sarah
Becvar back in 2017.
Guided by his past and current
experience, Ferguson feels
the passion in the hallways.
“I think SLUH is kind of a
unique community and that rigorous
academics and success in
the classroom is really important
but it is also brought together
as a crossroads of spirituality
and of community. I think that’s
a pretty rare thing to find a high
school level.”
photo | Kathy Chott
campus where he worked
with the religious education
program and its various responsibilities.
Following his time at
SLU, Herbig taught at Rosati-Kain
High School as a
jack-of-all-trades: he taught
classes ranging from Old
Testament Theology to Morality
to Psychology.
Herbig has experience in
fields that extend beyond AP
Psychology and is ready for
any call that comes his way.
“I really liked doing AP
Psychology, it’s one of my
favorite topics to teach, but
I do still have that theology
in my blood,” said Herbig.
“It’d be fun to branch out
into pretty much anything.
I like all of it.”
Although Herbig began
his psychology career in the
laboratory, he found a true
passion in the classroom.
“Being a teacher helps me
dive deeper into a subject
Sean Ferguson
West joins Counseling Department
BY Leo Hahn
Staff
As bleary-eyed pupils clear
their books and brains of
dust, many need a visit to the
counselors office to discuss academic
or personal issues. This
year, they might see a new face.
Saint Louis U. High welcomes
Lori West to the Counseling
Department. West is replacing
longtime counselor Dr. Ken
McKenna after his retirement
last spring.
West is taking on the responsibility
of advising around
280 students, all equally distributed
between grade levels.
Predictably many of those in
her caseload, as they call it in
the counseling world, were previously
advised by McKenna.
Right at home in the department,
West has a masters
degree in both social work and
school counseling. West, the
mother of four sons, also has
plenty of experience interacting
with young men, and she
has always wanted to work at
area while also helping other
people foster that same level
of learning,” said Herbig. “I
love working with students
not only to help them grow
as people forming their intellects
and brains, but also
their hearts and good will
towards the world.”
Despite the perspective
change of being at the front
of the room as opposed to
sitting in a desk at the rear,
Herbig has encountered
many other changes with his
new role.
“It’s a blessing to be here
at SLUH. Seeing things from
the other side lets me see just
how important the mission
is here; being able to see the
kind of work we do and seeing
its effects on the people
who are in the classrooms is
a really cool thing for me,”
said Herbig. “I’m profoundly
excited for this opportunity
and I can’t wait to keep going.”
Sam Herbig.
photo | Kathy Chott.
an all-boys school. Overall,
she will be engaging students
about their lives, both in school
and otherwise. It’s important to
note that the value of learning
has never been lost on West.
“I’ve always loved education,”
said West. “And I liked
the educational environment.
I am a first generation college
student myself, so I know
firsthand the importance of
education, and helping others
leverage that is just really, really
cool.”
West has plenty of handson
experience with counseling
from her time in Colorado at
the K-12 Twin Peaks Charter
Academy. Starting in 2009, she
spent six years as the sole counselor
for over 1,000 students,
working with individuals from
all age ranges.
West moved to Saint Louis
in the summer of 2015, quickly
getting back into the world of
college applications as a substitute
for a college counselor.
Shortly afterwards she spent
seven years advising at Westminster
College of Fulton, Missouri.
Despite her success at
Westminster, West missed the
energetic school environment
of her time in Colorado. From
there she turned to SLUH, and
West is eager to be immersed
into the daily life of a Jr. Bill.
“I really want to get to know
the culture and the people,”
said West. “And my freshman
and sophomore students …
where maybe I could speak into
or support a little bit better.”
One of the ways West has
begun getting involved is with
the after-school dancers. West,
who grew up in western Pennsylvania,
both danced and
participated in competitive
baton-twirling. As she begins
to adapt to SLUH, it’s really
relationships with Jr. Bills she
wishes to foster.
“So I think that’s gonna be
fun. I’m really excited about
that. And anybody can drop in
at any time,” she added. “You
know, I’m here and I’m trying
to get out and about in the hallways
and meet students.”
photo | Kathy Chott