At the end of the 2024-2025 school year, two of Parkway North’s English teachers, Debbie Banashek-Twist and Tracy Silvagnoli, retired, and another, David Beck, went to another school. This left open positions in the English department, which were filled this year by Keith Morton and Heather Vaughn.
“Mr. Morton has strong ties to the North community, and his eagerness to teach at North was certainly something that impressed us. He has a unique approach to education, and he will help the rest of the ELA team think about things from new perspectives,” said Mark Bannacker, the English department head, who helped hire the new teachers.
Keith “Coach” Morton is one of the new English teachers; however, this isn’t Morton’s first time working with North’s students. Morton has coached girls and boys soccer at North for four years. He has worked various jobs in education before deciding to become a teacher.
“I’ve been interested in education for a long time, obviously, and I was working in higher education and was also doing a lot of coaching of young people, and decided that I really wanted to work with that group of students and be in the classroom,” said Morton.
Morton has worked in multiple different education settings, working in colleges and universities as a teacher and director of student success, and most recently teaching at the Innovation High School at Cool Valley.
“I really loved all the places I was before, and I’m glad that I had those experiences, but right now in my life, it’s just great to be at North,” said Morton.
Although he’s been on the field coaching and is just now starting as a teacher, this isn’t Morton’s first time in the classrooms of North. He is a Parkway North graduate, and his kids attended the school as well.
“I graduated from Parkway North, and my kids have come through here and I’ve been coaching here for many years. It’s almost like I never left… I think for, I calculated, for 29 years of my life I’ve either been in school here or had one of my kids in school [here],” said Morton. “I feel like I knew a lot of people already… so it doesn’t really feel like I’m new. So that’s kind of a nice thing in your first year being a teacher.”
Morton teaches English 1 and 2, helping freshmen and sophomores develop English skills that they can use for their whole life, whether they realize it or not.
“A lot of people don’t necessarily think they’re into English, but really, English can be everything that’s written, everything that’s made. So any song, movie, show contains [English]. To me, it’s open for a lot of different things, and it’s fun to get deeper into and interpret all those different topics.” In Morton’s time at North, the building has gone through many changes. However, some things about North have stayed the same.
“It’s more alike than you would think. It has a lot of personality to it, but I think Mr. Jones brought his own personality to it as well,” said Morton. “And it really feels like a new place overall. [I] love the positivity that’s around here and students are so happy to be here, and I think people are getting involved in a lot of different activities and sports, and that’s great to see.”
One way students can get involved in their interests at North is through electives, which cover a variety of subjects. The English department offers many electives, including the popular journalism classes. Heather Vaughn is the other new English teacher, with a focus on journalism. Previously, she has taught English at Parkway South.
“Ms. Vaughn is an experienced Parkway instructor who can teach both journalism and other
English classes, which makes her a perfect fit for North,” said Bannecker. “We trust that she will help us expand our journalism program, bringing new and engaging ways for students to become informed about what is happening at our school.“
Heather Vaughn has spent multiple years in education, but she has had many other jobs during her career path, from journalism to content creation to marketing. However, she eventually settled on education.
“Because of my experience with technology, especially social media and the rise of social media, I knew I wanted to help the younger generation figure out the complications of how to communicate in a digital world,” said Vaughn. “So that was where I kind of discovered that at my heart, I wanted to teach.”
Vaughn will mostly teach journalism and broadcast classes, and help lead the yearbook and newspaper staffs.
“Journalism was my first love,” said Vaughn. “I was a high school journalist. We got to do lots of amazing and creative things. When I look back, those were very influential classes and they gave me a lot of professional skills that I used over and over in life. So that’s why I love to teach them, because I think they’re really valuable.”
Like Morton, Vaughn also has personal ties to the North area. Her husband is a Parkway North graduate, and she has lived in the area.
“Our very first apartment was in the Maryland Heights area, pretty close to Page and Bennington,” said Vaughn. “So for me, this is an area that was my first home in Saint Louis. And so [it’s] very meaningful for me to come back to this community.”
Both Vaughn and Morton realize the value of teaching, and strive to improve the lives of their students.
“I think teaching is important to me because I’ve always been a curious person,” said Vaughn. “I’ve been a lifelong learner. And at the end of the day, if I have to make money to pay my bills, I hope that it’s doing some good for the world.”
