Nate  Zittergruen

Nate Zittergruen went to Valley High School and was captain of the football team and swim team. He also participated in student leadership groups. Zittergruen got his undergrad, masters and specialist degree from Drake University. First, he majored in Biology and Organic Chemistry, then he changed his major to business, Zittergruen graduated with a general business and secondary education degree.

Zittergruen worked with kids in high school and college, that’s how he found his love for teaching and working with children. “I always worked at swimming pools in the summer time starting in high school through college. Started teaching swim lessons and stuff like that and I coached some youth sports and just knew I enjoyed teaching,” said Zittergruen. 

Before coming to JHS he worked with the Waukee Community School District and before that he worked at Johnson Middle school. As Associate Principal, Zittergruen has many jobs,  from working with students and staff to doing logistical things behind the scenes. Mr.Kline, Associcate  princapal, and Zittergruen  split the alphabet in half, as far as anything student related. “So any student L-Z can come to me for anything, whether  it be academic related out side if school related. Any conflicts with other students inside outside of school,” Zittergruen said. “We the three principals have different departments that we divide up as far as teachers we work with, I work with social studies, math, special ed, and the business department,” Zittergruen said

“I also do kinda a lot of scheduling, the counselors move kids schedules around and that kinda stuff, I’m the one that builds all the classes and sections behind the scenes.” Zitterguen is looking forward to building relationships and making sure student and staff know that he is available.

Being a leader is one of Zittergren best attributes, “I feel like leadership is something that can be developed at a young age for me I think it came from participation in activities, having good role models,” Zittergruen said.

Zittergruen also has a great quality for rising to many ocasions and being great in urgent situations. “You think of the stuff out there about how people respond in a situation, some people freeze, some people fight, some people flight. I’ve always been one that will step up and take things on,” Zittergruen said. Zittergruen has never been good at sitting back and letting things happen he’s very hands on and ready to help and lead in anyway he can. 

Zittergruen aslo coaches sports teams that his three kinds are on. For each team he has three main rules, “I have thre rules for the teams I coach. Do your best, have fun , and be a good listener, and what I mean by that is be coachable.” these are the rules Zittergruen also applys here. 

Zittergreun’s advice for being a good leader is to lead by actions. “You can be a vocal leader or lead by your actions, and actions are powerful things. So modeling expectations or how I want other people to treat people,” said Zittergruen. But he also stressed that being a vocal leader is just as important.  “Leading by examples is just as important as leading vocally.”