Waverly educator tabbed for Clear Lake Middle School principal position

Steve Kwikkel, of Waverly, Iowa has accepted the position of Clear Lake Middle School Principal for the 2013-2014 school year, according to Clear Lake Superintendent Anita Micich.  Kwikkel was chosen from a pool of five final candidates for the position.  

The Clear Lake Board of Education will receive the recommendation to hire Kwikkel at a special session of the Board on Monday, June 10, at 5:15 p.m.

Kwikkel is an experienced middle school educator and administrator.  He is beginning his 27th year in middle level education.  The past 11 years have been spent as middle school principal in Waverly.  

“The ‘middle’ is the only place I’ve ever taught and have been a principal,” said Kwikkel. “We exist because of kids; not in spite of them” is the message he hopes to share and grow in his new role as the principal of Clear Lake Middle School. 

Kwikkel started his career in 1986 as a sixth grade teacher in Rockwell City, Iowa and helped to establish the grades six to eight middle school in Lytton after a sharing agreement was reached between the schools. He then moved to the Eastwood Community School District as a seventh and eighth grade science teacher and head boys basketball coach.  In 1994, he earned his Master’s Degree in Education Administration from the University of Northern Iowa and obtained his first principalship in 1994 in Tipton, Iowa.  From there he spent five years as the middle school principal in Spencer, Iowa one year in Hickory, N.C. and the past 11 years in Waverly.   During his time in Spencer and Waverly, Steve served as a section director and Executive Director for the Iowa Association of Middle Level Education.