Tracy Feuerstein has answered the call to work in South’s attendance office.

This is Feuerstein’s first job in attendance, and she is excited to be here.

“I’ve always been interested in office work, and always wanted to do it. My mom and my sister were always admin assistants or marketing directors. So, I’ve always wanted to do something in an office before. So, I thought, better late than never, let’s try,” she says.

Before this, she worked for Early Head Start, a child-care program for low-income families.

“I worked with kids with various needs, various degrees of behavior, or just needing extra help and getting them ready for kindergarten,” Feuerstein says.

Despite loving her job in Early Head Start, she says she enjoys being able to be with the high schoolers.

“[I like] just working with older kids,” says Feuerstein, “probably because I have worked for about 38 years with early childhood.”

When working in attendance, her basic duties include answering phone calls, marking if students are late or absent, and tracking where students are. She says that it can get busy.

Feuerstein says that she is excited to spend time here and make connections.

“[I’m excited about] getting to know all the new people and feeling like it’s a second home. It’s been so nice and welcoming and that’s been a good experience,” Feuerstein says.

Though she enjoys working at South, she graduated from Blue Springs High School.

“I grew up in Independence,” says Feuerstein, “and then we moved my junior or freshman year, to Lee’s Summit. Which was Blue Springs school district. So, I actually graduated from Blue Springs.”

After graduating as a Wildcat, Feuerstein went to the University of Central Missouri.

When not at school, she likes to go on a drive or do some cooking.

“I am constantly busy,” Feuerstein says. “I like to organize things. I love to cook, and we [her and her husband] just kind of like to drive around countryside and look and get ideas for different houses and stuff that we might want to do one day.”

Feuerstein’s husband works at South as well, in custodial maintenance, and they have two kids.

“My oldest is 24 and she lives in Texas. And my son, my youngest, who is 22, lives here in Grain Valley with us. And he is in management at McDonald’s and doing very well and wants to eventually become a police officer.”

Her son also races on dirt racetracks.

“On the dirt track, [he] races cars and Emods [a type of race car]. So that’s kind of something, but that’s cool, fun to watch them race,” says Feuerstein.

Her favorite part of South so far is creating relationships with new people.

“[My favorite part is] probably getting to know some new people and making new friends,” says Feuerstein, “I’ve enjoyed that new atmosphere, and these kids are a lot more self-sufficient than the ones I had. I was changing diapers and feeding them. And although I’m gonna miss that, you know, but these students can do a lot on their own.”

Her goal right now is to learn as much as she can.

“[My goal is] to take in as much knowledge as I can get and learn new things. And so far, it’s been a really great process,” she says.

Her first impression of South is how kind the people are here.

“I had a really good impression because my husband works here.” says Feuerstein. “The kindness and one of their core values is people first. That’s very evident here at South.”