Hello! My name is Heidi (Schulte) Whaley and I am so blessed to be a part of the Pella Community and specifically the Jefferson Intermediate school family since 2019! Growing up in Pella in a family of educators, I deeply appreciate the strong commitment to education and excellence that is highly valued in this community. I am following in the footsteps of my parents who both taught at Pella High School, as well as my aunts, an uncle and a grandmother who were/are educators, administrators, and support staff in the school district. I studied elementary education and art at Central College, graduating in 2014. In the years between college and my current teaching position, I lived in Germany, Ethiopia and Haiti, first in a mission training school and then as a full time missionary with Many Hands for Haiti. I moved back to Pella in 2016/2017 and helped my family with homeschooling for a couple years. I then substitute-taught for the Pella Community School District during the 2018-2019 school year. My husband and I live here in Pella and are expecting our first child early this fall!