MERCER, Wis. -- Three new teachers and two cooks join the Mercer K-12 School staff for the 2008-09 year.

Sheri Kopka will teach science for grades seven through 12; Debbie Hohner will teach social studies for grades seven through 12 and continue to work as school librarian one hour a day; Traci Pirk will teach vocal and instrumental music to kindergarten through grade 12.

Cheryl Gransee is the new head cook, with Virginia Robl as part-time assistant cook.

Not all of them are new to the school.

Hohner worked one day a week in the school library during the last school year. She was hired to spend the $180,000 grant the school received to update its library.

Pirk was the long-term substitute teacher for the music program last fall during Carla Murray's maternity leave.

Gransee helped in the kitchen and worked as library aide, a job she'll continue in the afternoons.

Likes Northwoods

Science teacher Kopka, of Butternut, will complete the student teaching she needs for her teaching credentials on the job at Mercer.

She has a degree in fish and wildlife management and comes from a family of educators. Her mother is principal of a 1,300-student middle school in Sioux Falls, S.D., and her grandmother also taught school.

Kopka is from Huron, S.D., and has lived in Utah and Australia. Her family has had a cottage south of Minocqua for 30 years.

"This is where I wanted to live. I like northern Wisconsin," she said. "When I got into teaching, I wanted to be in a small school."

She has three daughters, ages 18, 14 and 6. The younger girls attend school at Butternut; the oldest is a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Kopka said she likes to hunt, fish and ride ATVs.

"I do pretty much anything outside," she said. "I am very happy to be here."

Still the Librarian

Social studies teacher Hohner has been librarian at the Mercer Public Library for more than 10 years.

Last year, the school district hired her one day a week to upgrade the library. That job involved a massive culling of the print collection, creation of an online catalog and the addition of both desktop and notebook computers.

In the 1990s, Hohner taught social studies for six years to at-risk girls at a residential treatment facility.

"It was a great setup," she said.

Her husband is a department manager at Wal-Mart in Minocqua.

They have a daughter who will attend kindergarten at Mercer and a son who turns 3 in September.

Hohner's teaching schedule includes environmental history, a new course in the Mercer Environmental and Tourism Charter School.

She will be advisor to the junior class. And she'll continue as librarian one hour a day at school.

'A Lot of Surprise'

Pirk plays flute professionally and has a degree in music performance.

She worked as an administrator at three different McDonald's for 17 years and substitute-taught for seven.

"I had my degree. I loved kids," she said. That led her to the full-time music teaching job at Mercer, where she doesn't feel like a new teacher.

"I feel like it's my second year in this school and ninth year in teaching," she said.

She'll teach band, choir and general music.

The school has a band of fifth through eighth graders.

Pirk said she wants to develop a high school band and pep band.

She'll offer 20-minute weekly lessons during students' study halls.

To make music more exciting, she plans to add lighting, such as glow sticks, and livelier musical selections.

"The kids get into that stuff, and they learn in the process," she said.

Pirk has ambitious plans for school concerts, which she's not ready to reveal.

"A lot of it is surprise," she said.

Pirk has a daughter, 6, who attends Arbor Vitae-Woodruff K-8 School.

New Menus, Subs

Gransee's new job as head cook includes planning menus, ordering food, cooking, serving and clean-up from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily.

New this year is the school's sub sandwich alternative to the daily meal.

The Mercer School Board recently voted to discontinue offering Subway sandwiches, in part because the district had a $15,000 meal program deficit -- some of it from subsidizing Subway subs.

The school's sub sandwich option includes the vegetable du jour or salad bar.

"Last year, if they ordered Subway, that's all they got," Gransee said.

She is considering adding quesadillas, beef nuggets and lasagna roll-ups to the school menu.