Hello, my name is Benjamin Heinen and I am from Ames, Iowa. My undergraduate educational pathway began at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and ended at the University of Iowa where I received degrees in Art History and Printmaking. Following my experience as a Hawkeye, I worked as an educational associate at Ames Middles School while completing a masters degree in education at Drake University. My first job in the Des Moines Public Schools was at Oak Park Elementary where I taught visual arts to students in grades K-5. From there, I moved into a position as arts integration coach and implementation coordinator in conjunction with the Turnaround Arts program at both Cattell. During this time, I discovered a passion for working in collaboration with teachers blending core classroom content with arts-based instructional strategies. After three years working as an instructional coach, I moved into a position with the DMPS central office as the K-12 Visual Arts Coordinator and Local Program Coordinator for Turnaround Arts: Des Moines. During my time as a coordinator for Turnaround Arts: Des Moines, I worked to expand our local cohort of schools to include Moulton Elementary and quickly fell in love with their community of students, staff, and families. Today I find myself serving at Moulton as an Associate Principal and there is no where else I’d rather be!
Hello Moulton Family! My name is Virginia Martin and I am one of the new Associate Principals this year. I am so excited to join the Northside family (Go Polar Bears!). I have spent the last ten years working at Hiatt Middle School. At Hiatt I taught Visual Arts along with being an Instructional Coach for teachers. I am especially excited to join Moulton because of ISU4U Promise and Turnaround Arts programming. All of my education is from Iowa State with a Bachelors degree in Elementary Education that includes K-8 Art, a Masters in Curriculum and Instructional Technology, and a Masters in Educational Leadership. Needless to say I am definitely a Cyclone and am very excited to help Moulton students bridge their relationship with ISU and continue to infuse arts practices into our learning and lives.
Just to give you a little history about me and how I landed at Moulton. I grew up in Paramount California [SoCal]. I earned my bachelors degree at Portland State. I taught for 7 years in a middle school in Downey, CA. We moved to Iowa 13 winters ago. The first 6 years my family and I lived here in Des Moines I was a teacher at Hiatt Middle School. The second 6 years we lived here I was an administrator [VP] at North High School. And now I’m on this journey of being the Principal here at Moulton. My education background is Elementary Education and have always looked forward to the opportunity of serving a school just like Moulton. I couldn’t be more thrilled with being the Principal here and I’m looking forward to building on the strengths that Moulton students and families already have.