Coaches during the daytime

There are dozens of coaches at Northwest High School in athletics, music, arts, and more. 

Many coaches in their daytime are teachers at the Waukee School District or neighboring ones. One of these is Peter Westerkamp, head Girls Cross Country Coach and Assistant Girls Track and Field Coach. In the daytime, he is a strength teacher at Prairieview School.  He commented, “I teach at Prairie View during the day and coach. At night, I take care of my two kids at home.” 

At practice, Westerkamp plans training for the team and tries to help the team grow closer. The team does a team builder as often as possible to build community on the team. Overall, Westerkamp works hard daily at school, practice, and home. 

Lots of other coaches are teachers in the daytime as well. This includes Dana Liva, the Head Dive Coach for the girls’ team. When she is not coaching, she is a special education teacher at the Timberline building. Outside of coaching and teaching, she also has other hobbies. 

Liva said, “My favorite end-of-day activity is playing with my pet at home.” She also enjoys working out and hanging out with friends in her free time.  

At practice, she plans every day for her divers to improve. Liva and her divers have had a very successful season. Her top divers, Bailey Mahoney and Avery Winter, scored 6th and 9th, respectively, at the State Championship meet.

Ben Duea is the head Girls’ Track and Field coach. Duea has had tremendous seasons in the past three years, with two first-place finishes and one runner-up finish at the Iowa Girls High School State 4A Championships. He is also an assistant Girls Basketball Coach. Deua is another special education teacher here at Waukee Northwest High School. He works hard every day here at school.

In his free time, he enjoys various activities, but he also loves his job as a teacher. He said, “I really enjoy co-teaching second-block consumer math.” 

All of these coaches are very successful, not only in their sports but also in their careers during the school day.