School helped build Mountain View grad’s confidence

Rachel Sevier-Thompson’s time at Mountain View Alternative High School in Rathdrum was both healing and inspirational.

Leaving the school and heading off to college will take some adjustment.

“Before I got to Mountain View I had a really bad family life,” she said, not wanting to go into a lot of detail. “… I had no self-confidence left and really didn’t care about school at all.”

At Mountain View, she found an environment that felt like home, and found teachers who cared about her.

John Klingaman, who started the school 20 years ago, was a welcoming presence.

“He was pretty much the school counselor as well as the principal,” Sevier-Thompson said. “He worked with me and helped me work through a lot and help me.”

And the teaching staff was just as caring and helpful.

“After the first week, my math teacher called me over and said ‘I notice you don’t have much self-confidence,’ ” Sevier-Thompson said. “He talked to me and I told him my story. He listened. And then he told me that he was going to teach me much more than just math.

“He really worked with me and helped me.”

The safe, homelike environment was just the balm she needed. She’s already graduated with a 4.0 GPA, and has a definite plan going forward.

Through a class on childhood development that allowed her to work with preschool children, she learned she loved working with youngsters.

“I think I would really love to teach fourth-graders,” she said. “I think that would be the perfect age group. They’re just old enough to be able to do arts and crafts.

“You need to have a lot of patience to work with them, and I think I do.”

Sevier-Thompson will head to North Idaho College in the fall and plans to transfer to Eastern Washington University in two years.

“Want to get my teaching certificate, but I also want to get a minor in journalism,” she said. “At the school I was at before Mountain View, I was editor-in-chief of the school newspaper. I wrote a couple stories for the Coeur d’Alene Press, too. One was about a food drive that I helped coordinate and the other was about John Klingaman and his retirement.”

Leaving such a transformative and supportive environment is sad, Sevier-Thompson admits.

“I am excited about the next phase of my life, but at the same time it’s sad to leave,” she said. “But a lot of my teachers gave me their phone numbers and asked me to call and have coffee with them. That helps.”