Meet the Social Studies Department

Meet the Social Studies Department 

Isaac Bouwkamp: I was born and raised in South Central Wisconsin, currently call myself a Minnesotan living in Winona.  I enjoy traveling and exploring new places and cuisines.  He teaches/has taught US History, Psychology, Current Global Challenges, Latin American History.  Currently he is in his third year of teaching in Arcadia. 

John Kimmel: I grew up in Arcadia. I enjoy traveling, visiting historic sites, and I collect autographed books written by regional authors. I read, bike and write in my free time, hoping to publish one day! Teaching has been a great journey for me, what a great investment of our lives! I enjoy the interaction with the students, and spending my day talking about history and government and working in small ways to make our world a better place.  He currently teaches AP Government & Politics, Government & Society at Arcadia High School.  He has been with the school district where he previously taught 4th grade at Arcadia Elementary and is now in his 1st year at Arcadia High. 

Ron Poppie: I was raised outside of a small town in eastern Wisconsin called Kewaunee. I currently live in Holmen with my wife Abby and three wonderful daughters. In my spare time I read–mostly history books, the girls and I spend summer looking for new fishing spots and we do a lot of hiking. I enjoy teaching history and truly hold to this quote from one of my favorite Greek Historians, an OG in the history world. “From this I conclude that the best education for the situations of actual life consists of the experience we acquire from the study of serious history. For it is history alone which without causing us harm enables us to judge what is the best course in any situation or circumstance.” Polybius.  He is currently an 8th Grade United States History (Pre-Columbian–1885) 9th Grade United States History (1945–1980) two dual credit college courses. History 201 and History 202. In the past he has taught, 7th Grade Geography, Historical Methods, AP United States History and National History Day.  Mr.Poppie has 14 years all in the awesome Arcadia School District.

Kim Severson: I’m originally from eastern Wisconsin, but I now live in Arcadia with my husband and we have two young sons.  In my free time, I enjoy reading, baking and hiking in the Driftless area.  Ms.Severson teaches Foundations of Social Studies, Government & Society, US History at the high school, and is her 9th year at AHS and 14th year as an educator.

Our mission is to inspire students to become active and informed citizens by making history and government relevant and understandable to students so they can apply it to real life.  We foster critical thinking and problem solving through research and asking thought provoking questions.  We support all students by providing inclusive, applicable learning experiences.  We teach students to think, read and write like social scientists by providing scaffolded lessons to help students reach our state standards. Our goal as educators is to equip students with the critical thinking skills which can be applied to any career they choose. Studying social studies is both a simple and complicated task because it's about people. 

Some of the projects that each of the classes have been working on in their classrooms are:

Psychology: student-led socratic seminar on nature and nurture and its influence on society

US History: a Berlin Wall classroom simulation to show how life was in East and West Berlin

Government & Society: students researched and presented on a political issue; students learned about the electoral college and polling, then looked at current polls to create a class electoral college map predicting the winner of the 2024 presidential election

US History 8: The students just completed a research based evaluating whether or not the writers of the Constitution were able to adequately strike a balance between personal freedom and stability when drafting the Constitution. 

History 202: Throughout the 2nd Trimester the students will take on the role of field historians as they will develop a semester-long project about the impact of September 11, 2001. If you know a student in that class they might ask you about doing an interview. 

 

Something neat that the social studies department recently did was educated seniors about the process for voter registration, early voting and how to vote and planned the Veteran’s Day program.  The department also proctors the civics exam, which is a state graduation requirement. Thank you to the Social Studies teachers for what they do with our students.