At Lincoln East, there are many correlations between last names around the school. If it’s brother-sister, parent-child, or husband-wife. Some of those correlations are the Hovorkas, Lotts, and the Funks, all married couples who happen to work in the same school.

The Hovorkas, Joe and Pam, work on opposite sides of East. She is a P.E. teacher especially in the aquatics area, while he’s a math teacher. They met through mutual friends and worked at Camp Kitaki together. They have been married for 31 years and Joe has worked at East since 2000 and a year later Pam started at East.

“She was doing a lot of aquatic stuff when we first got married so I naturally knew what she was teaching was wise,” Joe Hovorka said. “She was doing a lot of swimming and lifeguard training, which is a good transition into what she is doing now.”

The Lott’s also met through mutual friends as Abby Lott was graduating college. She had started at East in the English department before she became a librarian while Nolan Lott student taught. He is now a history teacher, he teaches Civics and World History. Abby coaches Reserve Volleyball and Nolan coaches Freshman Baseball and Reserve Softball. But congratulations are in order for the Lott’s, as they are expecting a little girl in February of 2022.

“Everyone is excited for us, all the coworkers are coming in, talking to us about it,” Abby Lott said. ”We even got to tell Sue Cassata together. I think it is a little extra special that both of us work here and get to be parents.”

Not only are the Lott’s expecting a baby but the Funk’s are too. They met in the same program at UNL. In a class they both had, the professor was having them do an activity that everyone except Derek understood, he was honest that he didn’t understand. Lauren realized then that there was more than than the fact that he was consistently late to class. They now work in the same department. Derek has worked at East for 7 years and Lauren has worked here for 5 years.

“There were some changes in the department that coincided with Lauren starting here,” Derek said. “We used to be 80% male but now we are evenly split.”

Derek was working at a different school when he applied to the LPS District, landing the job at East. When Lauren was in grad school, she had taken classes with William Dimon, teacher at East and head of the English department.

“I was at Pius at the time and Dimon had been bugging me for years to come over [to East],” Lauren said. “But I said that it would have to be the perfect situation and it was, so I switched.”

Working in the same building or department is not always what it appears to be. All of them are always doing different things in different parts of the school. It might be convenient but they don’t get to see each other as much as they wish.
“I treat him as any other coworker,” Abby said. “It’s like working with your best friend.”