Hable, Kodet look to leverage dean position into greater student connections, support
Once a Wildcat, always a Wildcat; or so they say. For two particular people, at least, the saying rings true. After four years spent thriving in West’s royal blue waters, they discovered a passion for helping others. Their time at West was spent seeking opportunities, rather than simply staying afloat, so they came back as teachers to encourage the next generation to do the same. Now, Marina Kodet and Justin Hable have seized a new opportunity, taking over as Deans of Students.
Justin Hable is the Dean of Students for freshmen and juniors. However, he is familiar to many students because he spent the past several years as a Spanish III teacher in Global Academy, where he worked with sophomores. His love of language learning has deep roots and fond memories attached.
“I was in my first ever Spanish class at Carl Traeger Middle School in seventh grade,” he said. “I found that I really enjoyed the culture and language, and I picked up on it right away.”
However, some of his peers struggled to grasp the foreign words and turned to Hable for assistance.
“I realized I really enjoyed helping my peers better understand the language,” he said. “I paired my passion for language with my love of helping others and decided teaching was what I wanted to do with my life.”
While he is now proud to represent the Wildcat spirit, Hable was not always loyal to his home school. He spent the first few years of his career at Oshkosh North, before coming back to West and starting the ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) program.
“I loved getting to work with students of all kinds of diverse backgrounds, who spoke many different languages, and I got to work closely with the staff as well,” he said. “I did that for six years, and then went back to teaching Spanish and eventually becoming the head of the district language department.”
Hable’s adolescent self dreamed of being in front of a room full of eager students with bright minds (not blank stares), so sitting behind a desk in the disciplinary office was not part of the original forecast.
“Later into my teaching career I found a lot of enjoyment in collaborating with the staff members,” he said. “I wanted to help coach staff, so I went back to school to get my masters in administration and graduated with that in 2020.”
Meanwhile, during the early days of Hable’s career, Marina Kodet was discovering her true aspirations and finding her way back to the wild West.
“My first year of college I went to UW Madison, and I didn’t love the academic side of Madison. I felt like I was basically a number in the great big system. So I decided to come back to Oshkosh,” she said. “I really enjoyed playing basketball in high school, so after coming back I wanted to start coaching. I loved being around kids and decided I wanted to be a teacher.”
The rest is history. Kodet has spent the entirety of her career at West, where she taught biology and physical science while coaching girl’s basketball for the last six years. During the 2023-2024 school year, Kodet took an opportunity alongside Hable which sparked her interest in the administrative side of education.
While previous Assistant Principal Cory Beaulieu was on paternity leave, former Dean of Students Shayna Reynard filled in his shoes, giving Kodet and Hable the opportunity to sub in as Dean of Students. Both are appreciative to have had this time to learn the ropes. Both Dean of Students positions opened up at the end of the school year, and Kodet and Hable are now settling into a position they already appreciate.
Hable recalls how his vast experiences in the teaching realm prepared him to excel in this new position.
“I have worked with many different students over the years. I was in English and Social Studies classes co-teaching during my time in ESOL, and I taught Spanish to grades 9-12. Having that diverse range of working with students helped because my job’s greatest focus is helping students be successful,” he said.
Kodet agrees and deeply values the connections she’s already made with students over the past few weeks as dean.
“My favorite part of my job has always been connecting with students. I taught science, but enjoyed being around kids regardless of what the subject was,” she said. “As a dean, I get to work super closely with students and feel super lucky to be focused on helping students everyday.”
Students have a tendency to be intimidated by deans, as they are typically deemed the discipline squad. However, both Kodet and Hable firmly believe that mistakes are a crucial part of high school, and it is important to tend to all the growing pains the student body acquires.
“High school is difficult for a lot of students, and we have a big responsibility to be a resource for students to turn to when they need help navigating through it,” she said. “We can’t expect students to have all the skills and be able to handle high school entirely on their own because they are young adults who still need guidance.”
This year, the deans are learning and growing alongside students as they adapt to the new position. While Kodet struggles most with being pulled in a million different directions, Hable’s been learning to go with the flow and find an efficient way to manage his time. They are willing to accept growth and change and encourage students to do the same so that they can thrive throughout the school year.
Their advice for students is to dedicate themselves to their goals, and accept all turbulence with a positive state of mind.
“Try to assume positive intent. Instead of jumping to the negative, try to look at the positive things that can help guide our decisions and get students and staff across the finish line,” Hable said. “Think about the end goal and steps you need to take to get there, and we will be there to help get you through bumps along the way.”
by Jazmine Blustin
Published October 7 2024
Oshkosh West Index Volume 121 Issue I