The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder
The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder
The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder
Math and computer science teacher Jason Townsend explains how to graph algebraic equations in front of the class. Townsend teaches algebra, calculus, and computer science. "I love teaching calculus [because] calculus [is] more challenging [and] more interesting to me. Granted, if you're a good teacher, you find ways to make [all math] interesting for your students and you challenge yourself to do it differently all the time,” Townsend said.

Traveling, teaching, theater — oh, my!

Grace Loethen, Staff Writer • March 1, 2023

  Hidden in a nook on the first floor, math and computer science teacher Jason Townsend enthusiastically teaches his last year of classes before retirement. His booming voice resounds off the blue...

Visitors enter the building and check-in at the front desk. School policy required photo identification to be let in. “I'm beside myself this morning. What does someone like myself even do? We can vote the way we think we need to, and we can push people to make the right decisions, but the people above us that make the laws are going to have to stop just talking about it and do something; that is the bottom line,” mathematics and Computer Science teacher Jason Townsend said.

Community reflects on importance of school safety following a deadly shooting

Addie Gleason, Managing Editor-in-Chief • May 25, 2022

On May 24, 2022, an 18-year-old opened fire on Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Nineteen students, two adults and the gunman were confirmed dead. Hospital workers are treating multiple other students...

Mathematics teacher Jason Townsend travels with 34 students to experience life outside of America.. “You kind of get really addicted to wanting to travel around to see it all. And I've probably been to 40 of the 50 states and about 20 different countries, but I would love to just keep piling on to that. It's been a lot of fun and you'll learn so much just about different people, different cultures, different, you know, social things, different geographic things,” Townsend said.

Traveling out of his comfort zone

Hayley Hubert, CJ1 Writer • February 1, 2022

Outside of school, math teacher Jason Townsend can be found at the podium guiding college students at Maryville University through website and app development. Townsend has over 22 years of high school...

The stories of student cadet teachers assisting in classrooms.

Cadet teachers reporting for duty

Madi Michajliczenko, Conceptual Editor-in-Chief • May 27, 2021

Able to complete administrative tasks like collecting materials, grading papers and passing out books, student cadet teachers gain experience teaching first-hand without the responsibility of teaching....

The Towsends orchestrated a Venmo challenge in which they raised money for a restaurant server.

The Townsends’ big breakfast tip

Fatema Rehmani, Conceptual Editor-in-Chief • January 22, 2021

From a simple post on Facebook, to a collection of $550, Math teacher Jason Townsend and his wife, Parkway North English teacher Valerie Townsend, made the day of the woman who served them breakfast at...

Senior Justin Choi works on a project that processes information about vending machines from a file. The unit introduced a new programming language, Python, that is slightly different from JavaScript. “I wouldn’t change anything in the class,” Choi said. “This class reaffirmed my decision to study computer science in college.”

New Advanced Software Development course delves into fresh curriculum

Angie Jia, Staff Writer • March 30, 2020

AP Computer Science (APCS) and AP Calculus BC teacher Jason Townsend recently created a new course called Advanced Software Development (ASD) that explores topics beyond APCS: everything from data structures...